The Second Coming of the Swarm
by Yoshtar
Summary: an Alternate Universe fic, on a planet in a far flung corner of the galaxy, cut off from earth, that has reverted to a medieval way of life, a seed planted long ago finds fertile ground to take root and grow. violence, and a little swearing etc. puts this at a T, and nearly an M. inspired by the legendary "The Zerg Swarm"
1. Chapter 1

**Since my purchase of Heart of the Swarm (it was a CE pre-order) I have felt compelled to give you a starcraft fanfic, unfortunately, the reason it's taken so bloody long is that I haven't been able to produce any sort of fiction that I feel I can share. No doubt they were good, but they got canned because I felt I could do better.**

* * *

I tracked the demon dogs through the forest; they would not escape me so easily. I would ensure that they would die by my bow alone for what they have done.  
I followed the tracks to their end and hid in the trees as they passed underneath, sniffing for my scent.

The creatures were clearly unnatural, as no natural creature that big grew chitin, few had six limbs, and none with that many sharp claws. Their little mouths were filled with needle sharp teeth, and bordered by tusks, their hind legs bore sharp claws, and their front legs WERE claws. They also bore a pair of scythe like limbs which I had seen rend and tear through men with little trouble, and the wings, which would look at home on a dragonfly or other similar creature, made them hard to catch even on horseback, as they allowed these demons to skim along the ground at frightening speeds.

They suspected nothing as I strung my bow, heard nothing as I knocked my arrow, and as silent as a whisper, I pulled the arrow back and lined it up with one of the demons. The bow gave a soft twang as the arrow left the string and the demons were only alerted to my presence when one of the four dropped dead, the shaft and feathers of my arrow neatly poking out of the back of its head, the head of the arrow having slipped in a crack in the chitin and severing the spinal cord.

I gave a loud cry as I leapt from the tree, and used the force of my descent to force my daggers into similarly lethal positions in the creatures.  
I pulled my daggers out of the creatures only to find I had snapped the blades as I leapt. I swore and drew a short sword.

Long swords were all fine and dandy if you had someone willing to stay at an appropriate distance and fight with you, but for this sort of animalistic combat, I needed something shorter to prevent this demon from mauling my throat so easily.

The demon wasted no time in leaping at me, intending to gore me with its tusks and to bite me, and I rolled under it. I was a woman possessed, and nothing would stop me from killing as many of these things as I could to avenge my brothers and sisters in arms.

The demon hound leapt at me again, and I attempted to dodge and slash, but the dorsal claws came down and caught me, tearing at my sleeve as I span out the way, and my blade skittered off of the hard carapace.

"Come on you f**ker, I haven't got all day." I growled at it.

The demon gave a small growl in response and rapidly closed the distance with me before slashing at me with its dorsal claws, and taking a swipe at me with its front claws. I fell backwards to dodge and slipped on an unseen slope into a small cave.

When I finally stopped tumbling I had taken a battering, with a number of rocks and bumps adding bruises and cuts to my growing collection.

I lay there, barely conscious, and in horrible pain. My arm feels broken, as does one of my legs.

I felt myself fading, and knew that if I survived the night like this, it would be a miracle. The ground felt so soft and squishy. One of the last things I heard as I lost consciousness was a soft chattering and clicking noise, as well as a voice.

"Yes, she will do nicely."

* * *

During my fit of unconsciousness, I saw many things, some of them incredible to behold: gigantic men wearing strange armor, with unbelievable weapons that spat fire and death at an unseen foe, and other creatures who I instinctively felt were few in number, his wrist-mounted blades shining with mystical energies and his armor shone a blinding golden hue.

Lastly were the demons, or the zerg, as the dream informed me, how they had been eradicated, how they had nearly become extinct, and how they had traveled here to preserve their species.

The last thing I saw was that of a face that resembled a human woman's face. She spoke to me in my dream.

"I don't have much time, but you do. It pains me, but I give you the last of my swarm. Don't worry; you already know how, it should come naturally."

My eyes snapped open as soon as I could get them to open, and the same dark cave I had fallen into greeted my eyes, which had by now adjusted to the dark. Moving myself I found that my limbs were no longer broken, which was an immense relief, though the areas where there had been cuts and breaks were still sore, the injuries were no longer present. I decided not to ponder this as I still needed to get out.

I checked my gear and found that I had nothing on me that could take down any more demon dogs. I had to get away and quick. Thankfully the slope I had tumbled down was not steep or sheer enough that I couldn't climb it, though with my aching muscles it would be a stretch.

Standing here talking about it wouldn't accomplish anything, so I grabbed a handhold, and started climbing my way up.

* * *

The people of Azaria, a frontier town surrounded by dense forest on one side, and a large plain on the other, were startled in the early morning when a strange woman emerged from the forest in the middle of the night.

She had the look of a warrior, most likely a ranger, though they were common enough around these parts that no one paid that any mind. The strange thing about here was how she had arrived: unconscious, and being supported by two monsters of terrifying design.

They gently laid her down in front of the gates and, in a buzz of their wings, sprinted into the forest.

Gertrude, the town healer dragged herself out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as someone pounded on the door.

"Someone had better be dying!" she shouted through the door at whoever was on the other side as she opened the door.

There were three men from the night patrol waiting on the other side, between two of them was slung a woman she didn't recognize. They pushed past her and left her on a table.

"We need you to patch her up whilst we do some investigation." one of them said.

"What did she do?" Getrude asked

"That's what we're trying to figure out. She was left at the gates by a pair of monstrous creatures." he replied

Gertrude got to work, looking over the woman's many injuries. "is it possible that she was sent to bear warning?"

"That's what we suspect as well." He said. "I'm to remain here until she is able to move again."

"She looks to already be healing, thankfully, though I can stop the bleeding and ward the wounds against infection" Gertrude said

"Then do what you can."

"Of course."

* * *

**I'm going to leave this story here. If I drag on for too long, I'll end up ruining it.**  
**R&R plz, it will help me do this right.**  
**editing thanks to DaLintyMan**


	2. Chapter 2

**I would like to thank you all so much for showing such interest in my newest fic. What I could really go for now are some reviews, I need opinions and ideas to help me develop the story better. Where should I go with this, names, places, new zerg even, as well as anything that you found particularly jarring or nasty grammatical errors I have made in my fics.**

**Any who enough of that, I should continue the story now shouldn't I. I would also like to thank whoever sent me those hydralisk 'motivators' I haven't been able to stray off task since.**

**DeargodhelpmeIreallyneedtopee****.**

* * *

"Father Radegast! you need to hear this!" a young guard said as he sprinted for the middle-aged priest of the faith

"what is it my child?" the priest said

"a woman, bearing a remarkable story, come quickly!" he replied in between large gulps of air

"very well my child, let us hear what she has to say" Radegast said as he hurried to follow the guardsman.

* * *

The first thing I was aware of was the voices. They talked and chattered amongst themselves endlessly.

Was this the afterlife? I remember running from them as the priest shouted after me, proclaiming me corrupted by the demons of the forest and a witch, and I had somehow found my way to the roof, though they probably had been forcing me upwards. There had been so many of them, and I was on the edge with spears and swords lowered at me.

the priest had started condemning me, calling me witch and heretic over and over. by the nine I never said that I as in league with them. boy did he really like to hear himself talk

A crossbow bolt had hit my shoulder and I had fallen over the edge. I fell for the longest time, before hitting the ground and immediately after everything had gone black. I knew that I had died, but this was not the afterlife described in the scriptures, this was just a sea of sightlessness after the unbearable pain.

My body had likely been crushed from the impact. It would have shattered everything, and broken what was left. My ribs had likely lanced my heart, lungs and other organs, whilst my skull had likely shredded my brain.

There was a ripple in the darkness and a sense of arrival washed over me, as well as a sense of familiar, like returning home after a long trip.

The voices seemed to take notice of me, though it was a long time before one of them finally spoke to me.

"So long as the swarm exists, the leader of the swarm cannot die. So long as you live, the zerg swarm cannot die." a hissing, slow, raspy voice said sounding as if it hadn't seen water for a very long time. "One shall always bring the other"

"W…where am I?" I asked

"You are dead, yet your mind resides within the swarm, and we in turn, live inside you. It will take some time to create a new body for you to inhabit, so until then, you shall have to lead through the eyes of your swarm" the voice replied

I took a moment to take all this in, but I guess if all you are is a mind, that doesn't take long. "When in Rome…" I thought to myself

"…do as the romans do, an odd metaphor my queen, but an apt one" the voice finished for me.

"I guess so… before we continue, do you have a name?" I asked.

"Diarra, my queen." The voice answered "do not worry my queen, I shall manage your brood until you can claim it in full yourself"

I felt Diarra withdraw from me, leaving me to my own machinations.

* * *

I learned later that to mark me as the leader of the swarm and to retrieve my mind and recreate it in the swarm had had side effects along the lines of rewiring my thought processes slightly. Given time and maybe another dozen or so deaths without some sort of major intervention, it was entirely possible that the swarm could have swallowed my individuality, and I would have become lost to the swarm, which meant that I would have become like a brood mother, who were ultimately set in their ways, and lacked finesse and subtlety, which were qualities they had chosen me to provide the swarm with.

I spent maybe a week amongst the voices. Many of the voices did not answer me when I attempted to talk to them, with Diarra explaining to me that they were not intelligent enough to hold a conversation anyway. According to Diarra only birth queens and brood mothers, as well as a few specialist zerg, carried a recognizable intelligence and sentience.

Now though, it was time to funnel myself into a new body. I would meet the owners of the voices soon. i wanted to see them with my own eyes, and meet them all as myself. Reaching out like Diarra had made me practice, I felt the empty body awaiting me and slowly but surely I planted myself and rooted myself permanently. It was as if I had been born in this body.

* * *

Opening my eyes, I observed that I was in a fluid filled sac, which encompassed my entire body.

Sitting up I reached my arm out and felt the sac produce solid resistance, like an eggshell.

Instinct dictated that I wanted out, so I followed that urge and slammed my fist into the shell, and am instantly satisfied when I see a spider web of cracks fly out from my fist. I repeat the procedure several times, each spreading the web further and eventually I blast a volleyball sized hole in the egg. The fluids rush out in one big hurry to get outside, tearing the hole to the size of a basketball.

Pushing the cracks out as the fluid level drops, I tear myself a hole large enough to escape through. When I am finally free I collapse into a pair of waiting arms.

"Steady, steady, subject will need time to adjust. both to new body and to external environment." The person whose arms I had collapsed into said.

"t-thanks" I said

"You are…welcome"

I stayed there, supported by the arms for a few minutes before I finally supported myself and carefully wipe the gunk out of my eyes.

I was shocked to find a strange humped creature, with long spindly appendages supporting me. I had talked to the sentients, but I had wanted to see them through my own eyes first, so it came as a shock to me that these creatures had pulled me from the brink of death.

Diarra must have been in the room, because she spoke to me again

"Do not frighten so easily my queen, there are far more frightening creatures than this one amongst your swarm" she said

More frightening than this thing? That would be hard to achieve. though now that I thought about it, it did appear rather harmless, those spindly limbs would not be of any help in a fight, they would be too weak, too fragile, and too dull to cause any damage, and it looked rooted to the spot, which never helped in a fight.

I 'felt' a presence behind me and instinctively turned to see who it was.

Looking over the thing with a trained eye that was used to reading opponents in combat, it appeared as a mix of human and something else, walking around on six pincer-like legs with webbing between them, a large abdomen that looked bloated with…something, and from there onwards, it got eerily creepy, as it had a humanoid torso, though with accented shoulders, a pair of short arms which ended with three long, spindly fingers. Her head reached far behind her in a magnificent crest, with bright highlights running along it, and had some sort of dreadlock tendrils for 'hair', and a pair of long bladed talons growing from her back looked discouraging. Her face bore a pair of glowing orange eyes and naught else, the mouth was sealed over or non-existent.

"Greetings my queen, I am Diarra, it is an honour to finally meet you face-to-face" 'she' 'said' somehow, bowing as it did so.

This was Diarra? It was obvious to me that she was one of these 'zergs' but I had no idea what to expect.

"It's…nice to meet you too." I replied nervously.

"Do not worry my queen; none among the swarm can bring harm to you so long as you remain our queen." Diarra reassured me.

Right. I'll see that for myself.

"Subject will need to adjust to new body. Genetically similar, but more efficient, may hurt self if not careful"

"Efficient?"

"Muscle and bone density increased, allows for greater display of strength, improved several inefficient systems, increased survivability to comparable levels with zerg. Maintained outer human appearance. familiar to queen. adjustment period needed. Increased psionic capacity to allow control of swarm. Will need further raw materials to work with to increase abilities further."

I looked down at myself, and noted that I did still appear human…if you didn't look too closely. There were a few discrepancies here and there. For one, my fingernails had grown into sharp claws, and my skin felt like it had plating underneath it in places, mostly around my torso. I looked into a puddle the goo had formed and saw my own reflection; my eyes had turned yellow, with slitted cat-like pupils, with the irises emitting a faint glow. The creature with the spindly arms must have put some time into my appearance as well, as I looked like a…a goddess, my hair flowed to my upper back in a cascade of light brown, my face had been re-proportioned, I still looked like myself, but the me that had never seen a fight before, and had lived a cushy life in a palace somewhere (thank the nine I didn't) and the scars I had come to live with were gone, which felt a little less welcome, there was almost a sense of loss. They had been a part of me for the longest time.

I had examined this in about three seconds. In those same three seconds I managed to process that I was naked. Immediately my hands shot to cover myself.

This seemed to amuse Diarra to no end, though I couldn't hear the laughter since she wasn't broadcasting after a while she finally said "my queen, you should not worry about that here, away from prying eyes."

"Right, you guys are inside my head now aren't you?" I asked

"Of course my queen. It is how the zerg are led, not by leashes and words, but by willpower and thought. It may also please you to know that I have taken the…liberty of acquiring clothes for you." Diarra said.

"Well then, I'll need those" I said

"Very well my queen." Diarra said as a zerg that resembled a floating umbrella with a face and claws glued to one side came in with a pile of clothes with suspicious stains on them.

I ignored the stains where I could, and picked out a set of ranger greens that I found in the pile. I used to be a ranger before the swarm found me, and I knew how to move in the flexible studded leather-scale chest piece and metal guards that came with the ensemble. I pulled the hooded cloak over my head and saw that it hid most of the outward changes that had occurred.

"Much better" I said, relaxing now that I had something familiar.

"Do not understand. Secondary protection inferior to sub-dermal carapace" the…'crafter' said

I thought on that for a second before saying "humans lack a carapace or fur, clothing is their way of keeping safe and warm and wearing it allows me to blend in with other humans. Few things draw more attention than someone running around naked" I noticed that if I thought hard things seemed to slow down slightly. he did say he increased my efficiency, maybe i thought faster at times as well?

"I…see. Clothing allows for infiltration. Will consider this further"

"Don't worry. I'll just keep a few spare sets here" I said.

"As you wish"

Amused by the… enlightening conversation, Diarra eventually saw fit to lead me outside.

* * *

We exited the hive through a hole that looked incredibly like the maw of a titanic monster.

What I saw was unlike anything else I had seen.

"Oh my…"

"My queen, welcome, to the swarm" Diarra said from my side.

* * *

**and here my firends, is where i bid you adieu after another chapter.**

**if there are any inconsistencies, spelling and/or grammatical mistakes (other than the Genemasters speech (i really need a name for him, any suggestions? zerg names are hard to make)), or other such fluff-ups, or you have an idea/explanation, leave a review.**

**R&R, you guys should know the drill.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't always write fanfics, but when I do, I'm usually told that they're good. Also I would like to say thanks to whoever transplanted the dogs brain with this massive zergling. I never thought I'd get to ride one, but now I can! THANKS FOREVER!**

**The infestors dead by the way. Thanks jerkass.**

**I have also found that a good way to flood your inbox is to ask for a name for a character on ff. net. I had maybe 20 messages when I checked my inbox the following morning, thanks for the overwhelmingly (hopefully) positive response.**

* * *

Rangers were sensitive to the whims and hows of nature, so when the forest 'spoke' of a disturbance, they naturally searched for the source. The reports were terrifying and fantastical. Great demons that spread among the trees that could fell men in moments, a section of the forest with a floor that moved and writhed like a living being, yet spread like liquid.

These were clearly symptoms of a much greater event; one that they wanted to get to the bottom of, before it grew too great to be dealt with.

Asp did not wish to waste the lives of his rangers, apprentices and outcasts only came every so often, and rangers would be needed to train and instruct them, as well as the many who travelled abroad, either as a part of an adventuring party, or performing mercenary work that helped fund them, fuel their fires, and to buy the few things that they needed and could not find.

It was a conundrum that left him with few options. He needed information, and he had none.

Eventually it was decided that five elite rangers would be sent. The small group would keep to the trees and only engage these demons if it became necessary. They would scout the enemy and return as soon as they had information.

He hoped that nothing would go wrong.

* * *

I focused on the larva and attempted to command it to 'morph' as Diarra had said. The entire hive consisted of one newly constructed hatchery, which I was told was the centre of all zerg. The larvae that became any basic zerg creature were produced at the hatchery.

There was a large mineshaft that the zerg had dug to find minerals and reactants with which to create more expensive creatures near the hatchery. The creep could 'photosynthesize' everything needed to create basic zerg creatures such as zerglings, drones and overlords, giving me a sort of 'daily allowance' of these creatures and to some extent more advanced zerg, but I would need to find a source of reactants and extra minerals to fuel those transformations.

This also meant that if I wanted to morph more creatures I would need to expand my creep network.

Diarras first test for me was to create a spawning pool to allow fast creation of zerglings and queens, as well as to help store inactive eggs and spare resources.

So far I had just frustrated myself throwing thoughts at the creature. I had thought "morph into drone" at the larva so many friggin times that I'm afraid I might hear it when I sleep. Why couldn't these things come with instructions? oh wait... Diarras still there... i hope she didn't hear that

I took a few deep breaths to refresh my thoughts a bit and then tried looking at the problem better. It took me a bit, but I remembered Diarra telling me that these things weren't intelligent, and my ranger training told me that 'dumb' animals like lizards and insects relied on their instincts to react to situations. The zerg could vary wildly in intelligence but these larvae were clearly about as smart as a caterpillar, considering the similarities. They would move around, eat, and when the time came, they would spin cocoons.

It occurred to me that I had been appealing to higher intelligence, and not to its instincts.

Applying this theory, I attempted to communicate with it on an instinctual level, closing my eyes and followed my own instincts, trying to impress feelings and 'lower' thoughts upon the small creature. I sat there for maybe three seconds and when I opened my eyes I was treated to the larva bloating grotesquely, its feet planted into the creep and became swollen. Eventually the larva was gone and in its place was a pulsating sack of a familiar green goo, the chitin thickening and hardening to form armour plating, and the creep growing up the sides of the cocoon and forming claws to keep the new zerg in place while it matures.

I gave a small cheer of success before Diarra sent me to the hatchery and had me morph more drones. Each time I morphed a drone, it took less and less time until I had started the maturation process every larva at the hatchery, and I had got it down to a fraction of a second to send the mental commands. The 'Genemaster' (as he referred to himself) had mentioned installing the instinctive ability to control the swarm, so it wasn't much of a surprise that I had picked it up so easily and fluently.

"the morphing process will take some time my Queen, fortunately there are zerglings for you to command in the meantime. Simply reach out and you will feel them" Diarra said, automatically moving on to my next lesson.

* * *

**And now we take you aside for a bit to answer something. Since this is essentially the 'tutorial level' which are nearly universally boring, you instead get me answering a question someone asked me, with some help with the cast, outside canon in the 'whitespace'**

"**so…Diarra why give up your position leading the new brood?"**

"_**the Queen of Blades herself instructed me to find a new leader of the swarm. After the Niadra fiasco, she made sure that there would be a voice of reason to prevent needless deaths of allied or even friendly creatures due to poorly worded purposes, she stated in no uncertain terms her intent that I should not lead the swarm myself if an alternative leader was available. She purposed me with finding potential outside the koprulu sector to lead the swarm should the koprulu swarm ever be destroyed utterly"**_

"**Fascinating. Well the necessary time (about five minutes) has passed and the drones should be hatching right now. thanks to 'whitespace' time acceleration you only had to read that, instead of waiting through five minutes worth of pointless scouting"**

* * *

These creatures were… unnatural. Chitin and claws just thrown haphazardly together, the design was clearly developed artificially, so that raised the question of who exactly had designed these constructs.

Took whistled to his fellow rangers, and they continued along the trees, above the hounds racing across the ground below.

* * *

I looked out at the drones that I had spared to cut down trees for raw materials, the enzymes of the spawning pools dissolving the wood within seconds, just like the ores that the miners dug up.

"My Queen, there are several humans moving along the treeline" Diarra reported, impressing the glimpses of the men she had received upon my mind.

I watched the stream of images with scant belief. These were clearly rangers, moving to remain unseen, their green cloaks blending with the leaves of the trees they hid in, except that they did nothing to disguise their minds, and Diarra quickly sensed them among the outskirts, and had the nearest overlord observe them from the sky. The overlords 'heat vision' quickly saw straight through their camouflage.

For a brief moment, I entertained the idea of abandoning the swarm. The rangers were a home and a lifestyle for those who would otherwise turn to crime to support themselves. They had been my…friends, a brotherhood that I had excelled in…but the zerg needed me. Without me they would falter and die. They would likely never let me go either and they would always find me.

Rangers were the guardians of the wilderness they employed, including all who inhabited the wilds. They would understand wouldn't they?

I ran to meet with the rangers. They were probably about to do something stupid.

* * *

"HEY! HEY!"

Took could barely believe his eyes, there was a human amongst these creatures, not only that, but she had seen them.

He used the hand signals to communicate with his brethren. _"she has seen us, stealth is no longer an option"_ He signed.

"_you should meet with her, you're better with people, and she will ask to see the leader"_ Ansem signed back

"_very well"_

Taking a quick breath to steady himself, Took leapt from the tree, rolled to lessen the impact with the earth, and brushed his cloak to the side to reveal the gamut of weaponry he carried.

He took a moment to examine her. He was surprised to see that she wore the armour and robes of a ranger, and moved like she had been for a while. the cloak hid the top half of her face and fell around her shoulders, camouflaging her somewhat against the green of the bushes and underscrub.

She carried no weapons that he could see, though that didn't mean that she didn't have any by any stretch of the imagination.

"what is one of our order doing amongst these creatures" Took asked

"I could ask the same thing" she replied

"Nevertheless, I must know" Took insisted

"These creatures saved my life" she said

"a wolf has inadvertently saved the life of many a ranger before, yet we do not sleep with their packs" Took replied

"this was a different sort of saving… did you hear about a witch dressed as a ranger meeting her end in Azaria?"

"you mean to say that she was you?"

"I intend to repay a my life debt to the creatures who brought me back from the brink of death"

"I personally saw her being buried, A number of us did. There is no way she is you, Evadne was a solid ranger, not some witch in the forest creating monstrosities"

"not even when the evidence stares you right in the face?" she said pulling back her hood

"h…how?" was all Took could say. It was almost definitely Evadne staring at him. The look was slightly off though, Evadne had scars and tanned skin from fights and from working outside for days at a time. This Evadne was pale, as if she had been kept inside for months as a prisoner, and lacked the scars.

"I died. They had a small part of me that they grew into another me, they psychically preserved my mind and then merged the two. I am the old me inside a new me" Evadne said.

"a…new you?"

"yes a new me. I ask that you leave me and The Zerg Swarm alone. When we are ready to meet the world, you will know. Watch if you wish, but do not intervene. Now go, report this to Asth, I'm sure he would like to know about the swarm" Evadne said before turning and walking away.

"how do I know it's the real you?" Took said

Evadne stopped for a moment before turning and saying "I used to worry the old man by playing with that throwing knife I engraved my initials into because I thought the handle looked like a dragon"

"impressive, anything else?"

"you've been examining my speech patterns and mannerisms all this time. Those would be hard to mimic perfectly. Do you need much more evidence?" Evadne said

She was right, the resemblance was uncanny, and though he was reluctant to amit it, Took was having trouble seeing much difference in her other than her being a little more…animalistic? Devoted? Something between the two.

"fine, I'll report this. So long as you don't attack us, we shall not attack you" Took said

"I would expect nothing less of the rangers" Evadne said "though this doesn't mean i don't want to stay in touch"

"meaning?" took asked

"you'll see" Evadne replied cryptically

* * *

**Well, first human contact; and finally, our main character has a name.**

**Took is basically the ranger equivalent of an 'old friend from highschool'. Allow me to say that this is basically just an old friendship, rangers aren't exactly known for large bouts of passion, having normally been street urchins and/or orphans before finding their way to the rangers, or being recruited by an impressed ranger.**

**To curtail the inevitable question, There is not much chance that the two are going to become romantically interested. Maybe, seeing how this goes, but like a lot of my stories, I make it up as I go along. Anythings possible if I think it sounds plausible/like a good idea.**

**R&R, send me ideas, names, plot twists, anything I can use. Thanks in advance.**

**Ciao.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back, sorry for the long wait and short chapter, the holidays were screwing with my motivation and muses. Let's get this show back on the road!**

**I would like to quickly thank those who have reviewed and submitted ideas; your input is the cement that I glue these stories together with.**

Took had played the role of an escort before, but this was his…weirdest escort mission ever.

Evadne had returned half an hour later, as they were packing up their camp riding on the back of a creature that defied description. Evadne had called it a "Birth Queen", which had then promptly introduced itself as "Sindri". He was amazed to find that the creature somehow spoke without needing a mouth.

Evadne had turned to leave and said "play nice now, I'll need her back once I can devise something more permanent"

Who or whatever she was, this new Evadne was almost frightening.

* * *

"Tell me Diarra, is there some way of mining minerals faster? It is taking much too long to find enough ores to create any extra zerg."

"The Zerg are used to mining large mineral crystals dotted across the Koprulu sector. This planet appears to lack any such deposits. You will need to talk to Avrom, I'm sure he will have a solution."

"Avrom?" I asked

"The genemaster, surely you didn't forget his name?" Diarra said in mild surprise

"I just never learned it." I replied as I walked into the caverns

"Have foreseen problem. Lack of enriched mineral deposits. Must dig for inefficient ores. Ores needed in large quantities. Have solution; and secondary…problem" Avrom said as I finished explaining the problem to him

"Secondary proble- wha- what?" I asked, confused at the broken speech, as well as all the technical terms.

suddenly Evadne's vision was overwhelmed by visions of gigantic worm-like creatures bursting from the ground and zerg pouring from their mouths, whilst Avrom provided commentary. "Nydus worm strain. Digs long tunnels. Very fast. Used as subterranean troop transport. Could modify. Use to mine minerals instead. Strain currently blocked. Queen must meet requirements to unlock nydus worm."

"Blocked?" I asked

"The Zerg Swarm is an incredible and unending power. The Queen of Blades did not wish to her efforts to end in failure because we were sent to our demise. You will need to develop the swarm and earn the right to create and use the creatures that are currently unavailable" Diarra explained

"So... they capped my power so I don't become a megalomaniac?" I said

"Precisely"

"That's…annoying" I said "so what do I need to do?"

"Develop the swarm" was the response

"That's it?" I asked

"Yes. It will however take time, but your enemies shall fear your might as you wield the endless swarms" Diarra said.

"So... tell me, what is the first step?" I asked

* * *

Sir Reginald Arnsworthy VII walked to his private study.

He was tackling a rather…bothersome problem, one that had plagued him for weeks now. He had been unable to get out of bed some days because of it, and the rest of the time he had no motivation to do anything of import.

Simply put, he was bored. Very bored. The sort of bored where you start breaking things because you want to stop being bored.

Reginald looked around his study, noting the various furniture, arranged expertly to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

Eventually his eyes drifted to the hunting trophies hung up on his wall. Everything from giant wolves from The Great Tundra mountain range, to monstrous carp he had caught fishing hung there, a golden nameplate proclaiming what each thing was.

"_I would go hunting" _he thought to himself _"but I do so hate doubles. if only there was something new to challenge myself with. Some previously unknown creature that would make for challenging game"_

As luck would have it, two of his maids happened to walk by right then, discussing recent rumours.

He normally would have paid them no mind, dismissing their chatter as mindless gossip that servants were prone to, if it weren't for their talk about some strange demons hiding in the southern forests. apparently they had been seen several times by a great many people, and there were rumours of them being fierce enough to attack groups of humans in broad daylight.

"_I suppose the nine do look out for us" _Reginald mused, his eyes regaining a gleam his servants had thought long gone. Eventually, they drifted towards the intricately designed display case in the corner. _"And I have just the thing to use"_

* * *

If you were to enter the mineshaft in the zerg hive cluster... you would likely be dead. If by some miracle you weren't and had somehow managed to avoid being slimed by all the creep, alerting the zerg and indirectly killing you, you would see that it was abuzz with frantic and rapid activity.

At the furthest, deepest part of the mine, is a small drone that I shall refer to simply as Chip.

Chip had been tasked with digging out the rock with his little claws to look for reactants and minerals, and so far had been able to find small deposits of slightly-less-than-useless ores.

Chip instinctively knew he was getting close to something and was digging at a slightly more frantic pace than the other drones. His claws scraped at the dirt once... twice... and on the third strike his entire claw disappeared into a hidden cavern.

As he pulled his claw out of the hole, a green gas erupted from the hole, the pressure it had been stored under tearing at the sides, enlarging the hole. Zerg did not need to breathe and didn't bother as the gas hissed into the cavern…that is, until a massive blast of gas picked up every drone in the cavern and carried them as the entire wall of the bottom of the shaft gave way.

* * *

"W_hat the heck?"_ I thought as the ground trembled. thankfully, before long, in a massive blast of creep and flying drones, the mineshaft erupted into a huge green geyser.

I ran for cover as drones rained from the sky, gravity having reasserted itself, and I wasn't particularly fond of getting shellacked by drones or whatever rubble the geyser had thrown skywards… that, and my clothes didn't do too well covered in creep.

Once the last of the rocks had stopped falling Diarra approached the new gas geyser and stuck her hand inside the gas.

"this gas would seem to be the reactant we have been searching for" Diarra said after a few minutes of pulling out samples of the gas and examining it, as well as carrying them to the nearby hive, before instructing a drone to form an extractor over the geyser, effectively sealing and containing the precious resource.

"at least we now know where to find the reactants now" I said as I watched the pulsing cocoon.

"indeed, this bodes most fortuitous. Now our plans can proceed as needed." Diarra replied.

* * *

As night fell the small party of rangers efficiently set up a campsite.

Took was surprised to find that this "queen" didn't need to eat or sleep, though she could rest for several hours, she would remain aware as actual sleep was not required by zerg.

"_a perfect army: no food, no sleep, fanatical devotion, these Zerg pose a bigger and bigger threat the more I learn about them."_ Took thought _"I am glad Evadne leads them, she never liked to shed blood, hopefully we shan't face oblivion"_

"I hope you do not mind keeping watch tonight Sindri, we cannot last as long as you do without sleep."

The resulting wave of thoughts and expressions was tricky to translate, his brain not being specifically tuned to zerg telepathy, but he was able to glean something along the lines of "I was aware of this, sleep for now, I shall stand vigil until dawn"

"I would prefer one of our own accompanied you during the watch. funny business will not be tolerated"

the creature looked nearly disappointed as she 'sighed' in defeat.

* * *

The people of the town of Azaria had been on alert for demons and witches ever since the church had declared that the woman who had been found, had been found to be in league with demons.

The smiths had been busy forging weapons and armour, the priest had been blessing said weapons and armour, and the village had shelled out to hire a knight from the royal palace to instruct the youth of the village in swordplay and archery.

To be honest it wasn't taken seriously. The guard doubled as lazy youths found a way to be paid for their laziness, and people became more jumpy, but most believed that Evadne had been the only witch, and now she was a dead witch. even then, some still didn't even think she was a witch.

Of course, the Zerg are an unstoppable force of nature that leaves nothing unchanged or untouched: how could they hope to resist the incoming upheaval?

* * *

**And that's a wrap, cut it, print it, we're going to vegas.**

**Until I said that.**

******Anywho I thank** any and all who have read, reviewd, favourite and are following this fic. It's good to know that you guys appreciate my work.

**Next chapter will be up as soon as I can find a way to unscrew myself and stop school from re-screwing me. What a life.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Time to get to work… I'm not getting younger and neither are you.**

**Research complete: engagement escalation, expect combat within next chapter.**

"speech" – speech/telepathic communication

"_thought" _– thoughts that AREN'T shared with another creature.

"**timewarp" **– any authors notes, whitespace segments, or timeskipping that I may put in

-flashback- anything in a flashback will be between dashes

* * *

Reginald followed the ancient instructions provided for the equally ancient weapon.

He lined up the front 'sight' with the rear one, he kept them pointed at the deer he was testing the weapon on, and squeezed the part the instructions had labelled as the 'trigger'. The result, much to Reginald's surprise, was a sharp 'CRACK!' as the deer's head exploded displaying to the world exactly what colour the inside of its brains were.

Reginald blinked several times, at first in confusion, then in awe at the destructive potential of the meticulously cared-for weapon of the first settlement. Only nobles such as himself could afford to own them, seeing as they were historic artefacts from a time when man had traversed the distances between the stars as easily as walking to market to get fresh food for lunch.

"if they could travel the stars and make weapons like this, I dread to think why they needed them." Reginald muttered to himself before finding his resolve. "whatever the reason, it will serve my purposes nicely" he said to no one in particular.

* * *

I walked through the gore-strewn clearing that her zerg had ambushed the inquisitor in-

-As it turns out Azaria had been smart and had messaged members of The Faith, who had sent an inquisitor to investigate the woods with an entire retinue of knights.

Of course, the Zerg had had no problem in dealing with them, their claws honed to cut through neosteel power-suits like butter, and the knights had found the hard way that swords bounced off of zerg chitin, and unless you could find a gap or had magic, you needed a large axe or a several strikes from a mace or hammer to penetrate or crack the plating.

Unfortunately, one of them had been a spellsword: a type of warrior who could also call upon simple body magic as well as summon basic elemental magic to add to his swordplay. The spellsword had managed to evade the initial strike, which had come from emerging zerglings that had been buried around the clearing, and had continued to duck, dodge and weave through their attacks, even fighting back slightly; sword whirling in one hand, the other spewing bolts of fire and ice that either roasted or skewered zerglings when they hit...which wasn't often

The fight had been 15 zerglings versus 10 knights plus the inquisitor. All of the humans had died, at the cost of 5 zerglings, the spellsword claiming three before a zergling had jumped on him from behind, knocking him over and thrusting its dorsal attack claws into the back of his head. The inquisitor had been wielding a hammer and had smashed a zerglings head in, before another mauled him, tearing his throat out with its teeth, before an axe-wielding knight had rent that zergling practically in two with a stronger-than-average blow-

-They weren't elite or in large numbers by any means, the inquisitor looked like he wasn't exactly high in the pecking order. The Faith had yet to realize either that I exist, or that I mean business. This 'gesture' would show them both.

To be completely honest, as I stepped over corpses I felt a sense of guilt, as well as anger. If that Azarian priest hadn't overreacted like he had…I wouldn't have gone back to the swarm, or at least, not for a long while at the very least, though he also killed me, and is now killing my… childr-charges… (a small part of me screamed 'what the heck' at the rest of me, but it was a small part)

I really should pay him a visit.

Diarra telepathically picked up on my plan of action and made the necessary orders. Overlords moved to scout, birth queens stepped up production, drones mined and collected slightly faster and even the various caverns and warrens seemed to pulsate faster as they matured, in order to facilitate the new plan of action.

* * *

Ash received note that the ranger squad he had sent to scout the reports of 'demons' had returned, though when he had gone to inspect the unit and to receive a report he literally performed a 'spit-take' when he saw the creature they were with, even worse was that it was unbound, and clearly alive and well.

"Okay who's the tactical genius who thought it would be a good idea to take this thing along?" Ash asked the group sternly.

He saw sheepish and even downright scared looks as they realised what they'd unwittingly done.

"…and can I ask what the fuck that thing is and why it's in the middle of our sanctuary?!" Ash shouted

The response was a swamp of images and emotions that left him gaping in confusion.

Took decided to speak up "It says it's called a 'Birth Queen' its name is 'Sindri' and that its job here is as an envoy of something called The Zerg Swarm"

"y…you understood that?" Ash asked

"No, but there is a knack to interpreting. It's like a game of charades, only faster" Took explained.

'_something tells me this is going to be a long day, and a long story' _Ash thought.

"come with me, you'll need to explain yourself" Ash said before turning to Sindri "I suppose that I should also formally welcome you to our sanctuary. Make yourself at home whilst I deal with this idiot"

* * *

I watched the cocoon pulsate slightly, the creature within stirring and moving about inside the armoured sphere of goo, though I knew that if I were to touch the cocoon it would calm. Even more so if I started to stroke it lightly.

Inside was a creature that had never been seen before on this planet. A symbol of the undying swarm as much as it was one of their most effective shock troops.

Beside it was a newer creature that had earned its spot amongst its peers for its sturdy resilience, near instant regeneration, and decent ranged abilities. The two put together were an effective combination that was hard to break at best.

It was the new strain that hatched first. The creature bore a resemblance to a turtle that had screwed a spider and had the ungodly offspring spend a week in The Toxic Wastes. It's thick dark carapace glistened in the light as the goo from the carapace dried under the sun and wind. The creature let out a deafening roar as the final pieces of cocoon hit the ground, forcing me to cover my ears to avoid going deaf.

I studied the creature before me, which Diarra had identified as a roach. It had a large, rounded body, with unusually dark carapace. It had a pair of scything talons growing out of its back and a face not even a mother could love. From it's mouth a green fluid dripped that I knew would dissolve anything and everything it touched that wasn't the poisons and virulent agents that were liberally laced through the acid.

I had barely finished admiring the Roach when the other cocoon burst open. The fearsome visage that emerged would make even seasoned torturers wet their panties in fear. the creature moved along on a serpentine body, much like how a snake would. The two arms the creature flexed as it gave it's own hissing roar, ended not in hands or some other recognizable grasping limb, but rather a series of wicked sharp scythe blades. Evadne knew that the 'Hydralisk' could also flare out the crest on its head like a fan, as well as shift some of the plating on its chest to reveal rows of incredibly sharp spines that it could fire at high velocities using an elaborate system of pressurised venom and hyper-tensioned elastic musculature, which had the added benefit of coating the spines in a cocktail of venom that was one part acid, one part contagion and two parts deadly neurotoxin as well as firing them accurately at supersonic speeds, with a range that made them hard for just about anything it could see to harm it before it hit them. The Hydralisk bore larger spines on its crest, which fired slower but at much greater velocities than the chest spines. The creature gave an almighty hissing roar as it was birthed, displaying the signature mandibles the creature was also known for, each one having the appearance of someone splitting a human jawbone and adding a tooth to the end of the resulting mandible.

On their own, the contagions in both creatures' ranged abilities would aid the other parts of their respective venoms by necrotising flesh, triggering responses from the immune system and inducing bad halitosis. That sort of thing. Attacks from these creatures would likely cripple for life, though nasty side-effects like infestation wold only occur in the stomach of an Infestor or a similar environment.

Soon, similar cries erupted all over the hive cluster as the newly unlocked DNA was put to good use.

* * *

**Two weeks later**

* * *

Having reverted from space-age to the medieval age, scattered villages instead of colonies had sprung up across the continent, with the entire continent belonging to the Kingdom of Amalur. It's said that the royal family could trace it's ancestry back to the captain of the great colony ships that had voyaged across the stars and had brought humans to this world.

The Kingdom was divided into states, each holding a single city and several of the outlying villages. There was much bullying and snobbery between the different states. Each state was held by a noble family, and whilst many nobles were knights there was plenty who weren't.

Those that didn't like those who ran the kingdom had built their own countries across the sea. There were approximately five large landmasses on the planet, with the one that belonged to Amalur being estimated to be the largest

Azaria was a large village, bordering on a city, but it was still only a village. Villages were mostly ignored unless you had to pass through them, and typically didn't possess great defences.

* * *

_**Earlier…**_

"ALRIGHT, TAKE IT FROM THE TOP, LET ME SEE THOSE SPARKS FLYING!" Sir Columbus screamed at the raw recruits. They had guts, he would give them that, and would make fine soldiers, but they had a long way to go before they were anywhere near good enough. Their morale would break as once they started dying, if not before, and their sword skills would falter before anything tougher than bandits. He had seen worse but he had also seen much better.

The smiths did produce some quality gear, and he would be impressed if these dolts managed to break it. When he got back to the castle _(were these folk really serious about the demons thing?)_ he would recommend their wares to the quartermaster back home.

* * *

Evadne waited behind around 200 zerglings, with about 75 hydralisks and the same again in roaches backing them up, in the huge Nydus tunnel. The plan was to have roaches cause a distraction aboveground before having three Nydus worms rise inside the city walls, destroying the city from the inside. Evadne's personal guard, which was comprised of five queens would communicate with the overlords who had been surveying the town to let them know when to emerge.

Once the overlords heard the warning bells, the tunnel seemed to expand even further as the worm tunnelled upwards.

No one on the surface was expecting it, and most of the defences were concentrated at the other end of town to repel the roaches, which were burning their way through the wall in minor numbers. Evadne didn't expect them to do much more than breach the wall before the defences fell, but she had hidden a number of reserves who would charge into a possible breach just in case she did.

As Evadne stepped out into the open air, she saw mauled and mangled corpses scattered about. Thankfully none were civilians. She turned to another of her Queens, Zara, and gave her orders "leave the women and children. Brook no resistance, find the priest, bring him to me, but if anyone takes up arms against us, do not hesitate"

"As you wish My Queen, so shall it be done." Zara replied, sending her orders.

* * *

"What do you mean they undermined us?"

"they have giant worms spewing out hundreds of them in the middle of town!" the guard replied, shouting both in fear and to be heard over the din as the archers fired their arrows at the black creatures melting the wall.

"WHAT!" Columbus shouted in disbelief

"they're headed for the castle as we speak!" the guardsman replied

With a massive bellow Columbus drew the massive sword sheathed on his back and leapt from the wall. He landed on a nearby rooftop of a two-storey house and leapt once more to the ground before taking off at full speed down the road.

* * *

Evadne looked around her, the Zerg were rapidly heading for the huge Citadel she had fallen from the last time she had been here, creep spread through the streets at her heels as the tumours spread themselves through the city. She had temporarily dismissed her bodyguards so they could reduce losses sustained by the zerg.

She had been taking a walk for not to long when a high-pitch squeal of fear grabbed her attention. Out of a side-alley came a small boy, likely no older than ten, being chased by a zergling. The kid moved like the wind and was able to outpace it slightly, but he couldn't outrun it.

Evadne quickly saw what was wrong: a knife had been buried in the Zerglings shoulder; the kid had technically 'taken up arms' against The Zerg.

Not looking where he was going, the kid crashed into Evadne with a force like someone had thrown a brick at her knee. There was a brief flare of anger, and for a moment, a small part of her considered killing him but she quickly suppressed the thought. A child's blood would not be on her hands. She would never forgive herself.

The kid then grabbed her knees as he quickly dashed around her, hoping for the grown-up to protect him.

"please don't let the monster eat me!" the kid shouted as he played 'cat and mouse' with the zergling around Evadne's legs.

Evadne calmed the zergling, who recoiled before stopping his wild pursuit, before extracting the knife from its shoulder. The creature looked up at her expectantly, and she ordered it back to the rest of the swarm with a flick of her hand and a point of her finger.

The kid hadn't missed this display and looked at the woman wearing the funny clothes with a mixture of awe and fear. She got the monster to go away, was she some sort of monster expert then? Could she make the others go away?

"stay indoors, tell everyone else to do the same. Don't attack The Zerg" the woman said

"a-a-are you gonna make the m-monsters go away?" the kid asked innocently

Evadne gave a quick look at the kid before saying "no"

"w-why not?" the kid asked.

"because someone wronged me, and he plans to hide behind this town to escape me" Evadne said

"is it Father Radegast?" The kid asked

"that's too good to be a guess" Evadne replied

"I saw you when you fell. You still had the light, but the light went away. It didn't fade like grandpa's but the light went elsewhere. Father Radegast said you were a bad person, but your light didn't say that at all. Your light said you were looking for Father Radegast."

"The light?"

"Others say I'm making it up, but then I say something the light tells me and they go all scared and pale."

"You mean you read their minds?"

"Their minds? I- I don't know about that"

I was interested. The kid must be psychic to some degree or another. Most 'trueborn' mages didn't display their innate abilities until puberty. Whilst most could learn a spell to reinforce their muscle and bones or to dampen sound briefly, a trueborn mage was a force of nature that could rarely be contended with in a straight fight. Their magic gave them mastery of the elements, instantaneous travel, and tear a man apart until he was dust. The downside was that performing any of these feats was taxing, and the mages, whilst being raw conduits for the energies that fuel their spells, were otherwise very vulnerable. Such powerful spells, built to decimate armies, but they died if you looked at them funny.

This kid was too young to be a mage yet, though he saw this 'light'. Summoning one of my queens, I gently took the kid by the hand.

"come with me." I said to the kid

"where are we going?" the kid asked, not liking being led by the hand

"to meet with someone who I think would be rather interested with your 'light'" I explained

"I-I'm not sure I want to come with you"

"what if I mentioned that coming with me means that you can make sure that the monsters don't hurt good people?" I offered

"really?"

"sure, why not?" I said

* * *

Sir Columbus swung the axe like a frenzied madman as he ducked and weaved through the claws and blades that the creatures wielded against him.

The serpent in front of him gave a menacing hiss, like the other five before it had and predictably swung down with its scythe-like arm. Dodging the blow, Columbus swung his axe down at the serpents hand, in an effort to sever it. this creature was faster though, and blocked the strike with its other arm, his steel deflecting off of the flat of the serpents blades and lodging the axe in the wooden floor. Twisting to the right to avoid another hound which had taken the opportunity to pounce at him, columbus yanked the axe out of the hardwood and into the advancing serpents face. He leapt to the side to avoid the inevitable spray of spines as the creature spasmed in its death throes, to which he had seen several men lose their lives.

Rolling under a spray of liquid fire, Columbus brought the axe down on the offending creatures face, the edge of the axe scraping slightly on the thicker part of the carapace, before finding purchase on the bugs lightly plated head, which was still extended from spraying the acid.

The fighting was terrible and fierce, but he would hold his ground against the terrible beasts.

* * *

"finally" I said as I watched the child pass into the nydus worm, laying on the back of the birth queen.

It had taken a lot of convincing, but in the end they had had to put the kid into a psychically induced sleep before he would enter the worm. He would be scared and confused upon awakening, but the kid would be useful later on.

I climbed to the rooftops and ran towards the front lines as fast as I could. According to the queens the fight was somehow going badly.

It didn't take long to see why. There was a knight blocking the entrance to the stairs fighting the zerg like there was no tomorrow, which in his case wasn't too far from the truth, and his incredible skills with evasion meant that the hydralisks and roaches were having a hard time hitting him.

Evadne reached for and strung her bow, and knocked one of the few arrows she had left that hadn't been broken or fired already.

Knocking it, she pulled back until the feather fletching tickled her ear, and she lined up the arrow using long hours of experience to guess where the arrow would fly.

The knight had slain yet another zergling, and there was a lapse in the battle as the knight prepared for another round with the rest of the pack.

Loosing the arrow, it flew straight but not true, and missed the knights head by inches, instead burying itself in the wood of the keeps gates. The fighting stopped for a moment, having surprised the overlords somewhat just as much as the guards.

In a well-recognized gesture, the knight removed his gauntlet before throwing it down at his feet. A challenge to single combat. The zerg retreated slightly and formed a wall of living bodies as the knight retrieved an otherwise unnoticed sword and drew it from its sheathe, as he discarded his axe. The axe was slow and cumbersome, and he had only used it because his sword shattered on these monsters this sword would even the odds against her.

"come out witch, I know you are here now. Have some honour and fight me"

I dropped my bow and dropped from the rooftops, my reinforced bones withstanding the punishment that normal bones would break under.

Scavenging a rapier off of a corpse and testing the weight in my hands, I shouted back "how does a man have claim to honour when he protects a corrupt man!"

"an honourable person does not resort to nightmares and monsters when another has wronged them, nor do they slaughter a town when a single man among them does them wrong!" came the reply

"an honourable person doesn't hide behind a town to shield his own sins" I shot back

"this banter shall solve nothing. Let us test our mettle, and may The Nine guide the blade of the righteous."

* * *

**Well…I'm going to call this here. This is likely my longest chapter ever, but large scale conflict and a bunch of descriptive writing tends to do that.**

**Also, suffer under my evil cliff-hanger, you shan't know what happens next until I post next now! MWAHAHAHAHaaaaaa…. Is it still on? Well turn it off you idio-**

**Till next time, R&R, and feel free to point out stuff I messed up and suggest ideas. Flames shall be used to heat the needy.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, after a lot of compliments and some questions, like a cockroach, bad sushi, spicy tacos and protoss, I intend to return once more to do you justice. Let us be off.**

* * *

The swords clashed and sparks literally flew time and time again as the Knight and the Queen clashed.

The Knight was stronger, a lifetime of training and magic having inspired impressive strengths in him, but he was only just. Evadne clearly was strong enough to hold her own, and both her sword and build meant she fought offensively, with lightning quick and deadly blows raining on the Knight, who was struggling to keep up under the onslaught.

Evadne however had not fought without taking several near misses, a brief brush with a second death, as the knight had managed to inflict a small gash on her thigh, that would slow her down until it healed. It wouldn't be healed until after the fight, even with her accelerated healing. The knight sported several small rents in his armour, as the ex-ranger had nimbly ducked a blow and managed to draw blood on his right arm and leg. It stung but wouldn't slow him down all the same.

Evadne rolled under the knights swing, but just as she regained her feet, he swung his blade and caught her calves with the flat of his blade, knocking her to the ground and driving the wind from her lungs, as he changed the blow into a large overhead swing that would cleave her heart in two.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down as my whole world contracted to the edge of the sword that would take my life. I made a mental note to not make a habit of dying when I visited Azaria in the future. I braced myself for death, not fully accepting it, but not making a pointless fight out of it.

'_oh bloody hell, here let me deal with this.'_

I recoiled at the sudden appearance of the voice and was suddenly forced into the 'passenger seat' of my mind as something else took control of her body. It felt like lightning was running up the sides of my brain, a not altogether painful or unpleasant sensation, and was soon followed with a sudden change in my vision, colouring everything golden (I later found out that my eyes had shone like two brilliant stars in the night). Of their own volition, my arms sprang up at a speed I knew was beyond my regular abilities and then the lightning sensation focused upon the sword, which stopped in mid-air scant millimetres from cleaving my hands in two. I knew magic well enough to know this was no spell, and that shields were beyond my abilities anyways

"no pointless deaths today" I said, not entirely of my own will. I had realised that the foreign presence had complete control.

"says the bitch who murdered a town of innocents" the Knight replied

"they barred my way. I shall stand no slights, and I wished to repay the good father." I rebuffed casually, as if I was observing how the weather was.

"so you butchered the young men of the village for petty revenge?!" the Knight shouted at me

"I can put them back together if you wish" I said, shocking myself as images ran through my mind of people being brought back from death by the erg.

I saw that I had surprised The Knight as well, enough that his sword slipped upwards slightly, despite him putting his full strength into forcing it downwards. This was no small feat since Knights frequently become blessed so often that it has a permanent effect and they gain strength beyond what their bodies might suggest. It took years but still happened.

* * *

On the walls unseen, Father Radegast looked upon this 'Queen' that had come with the demons.

He had nearly had a heart attack when he saw her face. It was the face of the ranger he had 'interrogated'.

He had noticed that his flock had been lacking in faith lately, and so he had decided to find something to stir them up, some miracle to claim in the name of The Nine. Instead he had received a woman bearing an odd tale. In a moment of sin he had declared an innocent woman a witch and had incited the guards to kill her.

Now the 'Witch' had returned, this time actually a witch, not only in league with, but leading the demons, and if she didn't want revenge, he would eat his bible. His sins had swiftly caught up with him, and to attempt to absolve himself would be to blaspheme against The Nine.

She moved with a grace and speed that shouldn't be impossible, the fight had been to the ropes, but the knight had beaten her, why didn't he kill her?

They talked and argued, the wind catching snippets that didn't make enough sense to judge the nature of the conversation, but he could tell it was heated.

He saw the Witches head move and two bright pinpricks of light stared not just at him, but into him. It was an all-consuming gaze filled with fury that he only just managed to avert his eyes from and duck beneath the turreted walls.

Despite all his long time as a holy man, he sat down and he prayed for deliverance for the first time. In that gaze had been a promise of worse things than death.

* * *

"what witchcraft are you using?" Columbus said, getting frustrated that now several swords were floating in the air. He had abandoned his thrice blessed sword and grabbed another sword, and had that one get stuck, the process repeated several times more, each time Columbus had been caught and had left it to her.

Evadne was now advancing on him, all his previous swords discarded behind her. It was nearly a complete flip of her personality, this one was grinning and coated with malicious intent. A nearly unbridled fury burned just beneath the surface, and it was all focused upon him.

Columbus never saw the terracotta roof tile fly from behind him, towards his knee. The small clay tile shattered, and he dropped to the ground, just as another shingle smashed into his face. His helmet and armour prevented permanent harm, but he was unconscious now.

Evadne moved on, he would meet his fate later, and turned to the keep, which now had the way unbarred.

* * *

The poor men on the other side of the door, bracing it, never knew what hit them, one moment they were bracing the door, the next there was a deafening crack as the thick wooden bars that locked the gates shut were snapped in a single blow, and they were flying through the air or crushed under the wood.

Those that ran to reinforce the gate were shocked that instead of a gigantic battering ram smashing the gates open, that a lone woman had somehow moved through barricades several meters thick. Those men were picked up and either thrown around like ragdolls, or suffocated as their throats were crushed under the unseen grip.

No resistance could be mounted against this person, ambushes in the hallways met with invisible walls and sudden blows from unseen hammers, murder holes were met with the men staffing them falling down, completely brain-dead.

Soon though, after the figures walk through the halls, a small cluster of demons following not far behind her, she met with her target.

* * *

Father Radegast was sat in a pew in the church. He heard the doors open, heard the clicking of claws and chitin on stone, and knew that his time had come. He would meet with the old ones and be judged soon.

"you know why I have come."

"I do. I am ready to meet my maker." Radegast replied

"I did not come here to kill you, in fact I thought I would thank you." Came the reply

"thank me?"

"if it had not been for you, I doubt I would have met the Zerg. Meeting you has been incomparably good for me. I was hoping to bestow upon you the same gifts you gave to me" the ranger explained

"w-what?" Radegast said in disbelief as one of the demons approached him. He was helpless as the demon, who bore a more humanoid form than the rest, but not by much, grabbed him and lifted him from his feet.

* * *

I raged and screamed to gain control. I had seen what had gone through the mind of this 'persona' and I knew what she would do. I fought, yet I was forced to watch as the priest was subjected to the most horrific crime the zerg could commit. She watched as the man's skin bubbled and his face distorted and bulged like soil as a tree's roots grew through it, she knew that it was his biomass reshaping itself.

Soon the queen let go and he fell to the floor as the virus ravaged his body, spasming uncontrollably.

Soon after many of the longest minutes of my life, the man bore little resemblance to a human. He had been infested, become a husk, had had his free will stripped from him and replaced with blind, loyal obedience to the swarm.

"_do not give in like that again, or cannot promise you I shall stop at infestation." _The voice said _"mine is not a regime you shall like. If you wish to save your precious homeworld, you shall learn to lead the Zerg or else"_

Only then did the presence retreat to the back of my mind once more, and my legs gave out as the world faded. It was with some embarrassment that I realised that I had fainted.

* * *

I came to not too long after as Diarra used her transfusion ability to wake me up. Apparently Diarra had been among those that had stormed the castle with me.

"t-thanks…Diarra... instruct the queens, heal the wounded…of both species. n-no more infestations…I will not bide crimes against n-nature."

"My Queen?"

"I have done horrible things to these people… I- I need to do this for my own peace of mind."

"as you wish my queen" Diarra said, uncertain of this new order

"it is my will… I- I'll be alright…I need a moment. To think" I said, waving her off.

* * *

A town watchman watched as these creatures went by. It was mostly what he was good for, watching as the world slipped past him. Not that he could do much about it now, he had received a spray of acid on his heel that had felled him, and had been clipped by several spines from the serpents two of which had stuck in him.

He had managed to drag himself into a side-alley and had been ignored ever since. He had watched the amazing fight between that knight and the leader of the swarm. He felt privileged to have seen it, for it had truly been one for the record books.

He had then seen that horrendous power display. And had heard the screaming long after the Keep had fallen. He felt sorry for those pricks, but then again, he was only slightly better off. He had seen his side start to blacken and die around the spines, and he knew his death would be long and painful.

His heart gave a leap as one of the tall creatures looked in his direction, the ones that looked sorta human-ish in the way a tiger resembled a kitten. Dragging himself was beyond him now, it would only bring greater pain and results would be slight if they existed.

The creature stopped in front of him, his mind was in a frenzy of fear and pain.

The creature stooped down, and reached for the spines in his side. He winced as the creature removed them, and realised that his side had gone numb, as if he had drunk Gertrude's herbal remedies before she got to hacking him about when he broke his leg.

The creature then made a small cut on its hand before slathering it on the wound, doing the same for his melted heel. The pain receded somewhat, and he could feel an itching in his side.

The creature stayed only a second longer before rejoining its fellows moving back through the partially devastated town.

* * *

I trudged my way back through town, looking at each scene of devastation, a collapsed building that had been caught in the cross-fire, a collapsed defensive line, corpses that had been rent in two lying where they had fallen and trampled underfoot. Each turn bore a fresh set of crimes, and I could find no-one to blame but myself.

Many of these men would never have harmed another life. Now I had the blood of dozens of them alone on my hands. I had killed before, and sometimes I had found them to be an innocent. I had learned to cope with deaths I had caused, but now I found a bitter taste in my mouth at the large scale death that surrounded me on every corner.

I sat on a corner between two lanes of destruction, giving into shock.

I saw the knight from earlier walk towards me. He was angry I could tell, it boiled off him in waves of negative emotion, and a slight fear, not of me, but directed at me.

"I fight all this way, lose myself, and then find that I have no taste for the executioners role." I say, part to myself, part to the knight

the knight was gracious enough to control his anger somewhat. Instead his voiced was laced with a painful venom "i will not pretend to understand your position. Whatever happened during our fight, you were not you. Just remember that our fight is NOT over, though neither of us is able to fight."

"is that all"

"no, now that you've killed half the town for your petty revenge, how will you treat the surviving half? Shall you act as the crushing conqueror, taking over the town with your new iron fist, or shall you ignore us now that you have plundered our homes and livelihoods?" the knight asked

"there is a third option" I said

"and what is that?" he asked angrily

"common benefit." I replied.

"what could you possibly help with? You have gained no small amount of ill-will, sundering these families" the Knight replied

"i don't know. But I hope to fix that" I said

there was a moment of silence between the two of us. The wind whistled through the collapsed store fronts and ruins of the homes that had bore mute witness to the fighting.

"i travel for revenge, yet I find it a hollow when taken in such a manner" I said eventually

"you seemed to be okay with the killing earlier" the knight observed, not failing to add his trademark verbal sneer

"it was what I was forced to do before that makes it bitter-sweet" I said

"that is?" he asked, his curiosity piqued

"she...stripped him of everything, his will, his mind. His form twisted and distorted and all I could do was watch as she _revelled _in it" I said, nearly on the verge of tears as I relived the horror of what 'she' had revealed to me

"she?" the knight asked

"the woman who hit you with a pair of roofing tiles" I said

"a second of you?" the knight replied, surprised and looking around for my 'invisible twin'. It was common knowledge that many of the Knighthood could cast truthsense during interrogations. He could probably tell every little lie I told.

"in here" I said pointing to my temple

"i shall not pretend to completely understand, her crimes are many, and she resembles the demons more than-"

"Zerg" I corrected, cutting him off

"what?"

"they're called Zerg. They come from the stars, not from the pit." I explained

"they're hardly angels" the knight said.

I stopped for a moment, contemplating this, before giving an exhausted sigh. "they know and accept one another without question or exception. It is more than I can say for you humans" I replied

"then what does that make you, if you're not human" the Knight asked, not missing my little hint

"messed up" I replied

the knight took a moment to process this new information. Eventually though he extended his hand towards me "meet me at the capital. I shall wait for you. We shall test one another then, with honour, and without cheap gimmicks. Ask for Columbus, and I shall listen for you, O Queen of the Zerg"

"until then" I said grabbing the hand and pulling myself to my feet.

"safe travels" he replied before moving to leave.

* * *

Meanwhile Avrom was having some troubles. He had analysed the Childs DNA, and had found him to be a gifted psychic, even with that unusual mutation. In a place far away, he would have become a ghost, and trained to kill with his mind. Here he was running amok through the creep covered caverns of the main zerg hive. They could not harm him without disobeying their queens orders, so instead they had taken to herding him.

The thing was, the Child was not afraid as one would normally expect. Instead there had been a standoff between him and the queen watching over him, but what fear there had been dissipated into awe. He had shouted something about 'shared lights' and 'that strange lady' which, and in a combination of excitement, childlike innocence and naiveté he had almost immediately warmed to the zerg, and had ultimately ended in him touching a zergling and running off in the other direction, giving a loud shout of 'TAG!' whilst he did so.

Thankfully, herding the child was a simple enough task for a hive of creatures that shared thoughts as easily as they breathed. Avrom had called to his queen to deal with the issue, before the geneticist turned his attention back to his experimenting and work writing genetics.

* * *

"I'm not about to intrude on anything am I?" Ash asked as he knocked on the door to the small apartment they had spared for the 'Queen' that had accompanied Took.

The response he received basically said it was okay to enter.

Ash opened the door with some difficulty, which was odd, until he saw that the room was now covered in a strange grayish-purplish-pinkish goo that flowed like water over the floor.

Looking around in shock, Ash was left speechless

The 'Queen' broke the 'silence' by playing back the memory of him saying 'make yourself at home'.

Ash supposed he should have seen it coming, especially after the de-briefing mentioned something like this, to see it for himself with his own eyes was something that he hadn't been prepared for.

"I was checking in to see if you were comfortable, we were going to discuss why you're here at noon tomorrow, but I think you already know that"

There was a general response of yes

Ash gave a small nod of his head and left.

* * *

**Okay, I'm gonna call it for this chapter. Things are rather open-ended right now, and I want your opinions, in what direction should I drive the story? Leave a review; you know, the little text box down there? Your input is a force of constant change that I use to prevent stagnation and samey-ness to other T.Z.S. derivatives. Mostly.**

**Until next chapter, Ciao**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to a not-so-healthy dosage of reviews and caffeine (marvellous caffeine) I have decided to write this next chapter in the tale. I hope you like it.**

**I would also like to take a moment to thank all my reviewers. You leave a favourite and a follow? I know that you like it, but if you leave a review, then sir/madam/other, then you have my attention. Then you get a say in what you like and what you don't. Then I can glue together a new chapter.**

* * *

It had been weeks since the town of Azaria had been devastated by the Zerg. In those weeks, they had yet to leave.

The people living there were understandably unhappy with this, but even they couldn't deny that the strange creatures from the stars were useful

This soon after an attack like that, the healer's house should have been flooded and backed up with the dying and wounded, instead, the place was nearly empty, birth queens having moved through the town and utilising healing properties in their blood, of all things, to seal mortal wounds and cure infections. Men who would have died were now helping with the recovery effort. Some had even been raised from the dead, though they weren't exactly the same.

Zerglings, with their fast speed, had been utilised to deliver small supplies, like food and water amongst the refugees. Drones had been tasked with removing the rubble and moving large materials to reconstruction efforts as well as digging people from what buildings had collapsed. It had been surprising at first, to see a single Drone carry a tree or support beam that far exceeded its own size.

The leader, a woman by the name of Evadne had apologized to the villagers. They had been just about ready to lynch her when a small kid riding a Zergling had burst through the crowd whooping with joy. The kid had been so unexpected and out of the ordinary that they had been stopped in their tracks.

The kid had talked in that rapid way an excited small child normally does, and said that she had saved him from one of the Zerg, and had been briefly at their hive, playing tag with the Zerglings, of all things. The kids' testimonies, that they weren't all that bad, had given Evadne some room and had eventually talked them into letting her help them. They had grudgingly accepted, but only just. It had still nearly caused a riot and a few lynch mobs and would-be assassins had to be talked down.

The ability of kids to influence their parents is one of the more powerful forces in the universe, and the children of the village had quickly realised that if you know where to sit, you could ride a Zerg so long as it didn't buck you off. Zerglings soon had to outrun kids attempting to ride them. Apparently (according to the kids) the kids had made a game of seeing who could stay on the longest, or ride it the furthest.

Evadne looked on in amusement when she saw it happening. "Ultimately though" she reasoned with the queens "It will help to breed faster Zerglings, and a generation of humans who are used to the Zerg. They could prove valuable assets in the years to come: an army of infiltrators and spies to gather intel that an overlord cannot."

At this point the Queens assented. The old queen had also seen and plotted far ahead of the present as well, her 'vision' had guided the swarm to glorious heights, and this one appeared to be warming up to fill the shoes left behind.

The villagers had also adapted to one of the biggest changes that the Zerg brought as well: Creep.

The purple gloop had spread throughout the village during the invasion as a means to keep the frontlines reinforced with fresh Zerg as the casualties piled up. Three days into the 'occupation' several of the villages 'green thumbs' had noticed that their garden beds had flourished as the creep soaked into the soil.

Soon after, when several farmers arrived to sell their winter harvest, (after no small amount of cursing at the strange new 'varmints' running amok), they had noticed the effect creep had on the plants in the garden beds. They had never seen plant life thrive so well, and within the month were demanding the goo be shipped to their farms.

Evadne had little qualm about this, with this, she would gain extra creep coverage, allowing for more Zerg and entrenching herself even further among the townsfolk. She helped them, they unwittingly helped her.

Finally, Avrom had also acquired enough genetic material to last him a lifetime or two and had begun yet another project, improving and creating, spinning his strands and ironing out defects.

* * *

"_You plot and scheme like a master. Are you sure you haven't done this before?" _the voice asked.

'I don't know. You're in my head, why don't you figure it out?' I thought back.

"_Because teasing you is much too fun." T_he voice answered back.

'And you're here because?' I asked.

"_So you don't grow complacent and weak, or let yourself die without a damn good reason. In the Zerg, the only good leader is a strong leader, so part of the program you signed on for is that I was created inside your head. I'm you, essentially, but I lack several key features, your sense of justice, code of morals, or mercy being chief among them. I am as dangerous as you, with none of the restraint. Fuck up and you'll be taking the backseat whilst I sort stuff out, and you aren't going to like any of my solutions to your problems." T_he voice replied, as the image of a fanged grin came up unbidden.

'And you don't take charge by default because?' I asked

"_I'm not programmed to, you're meant to lead the swarm to greatness, I'm just here as a safety net so we don't have to keep wasting biomass reviving you." _she replied

'Right' I said, getting the idea, but not exactly what she meant.

"_You'll figure it out, I should know, I'm in your head after all…so… y'know…I'll be here if you ever need me." _she said before fading back to the recesses of my mind.

* * *

"Okay, you caught him, now would you put him down Sindri?" Took asked

Sindri looked at him for a few moments before her eyes stopped glowing. The man that had been floating several inches above the ground and struggling wildly to hit the queen who was just outside arms reach, suddenly dropped to the ground, the impact winding him. Two rangers quickly scooped him up and bound his hands behind his back, holding him so he couldn't escape.

The two had caused a lot of commotion and had woken a lot of people up. The man Sindri had caught, whose litany of curses and insulting remarks left little to the imagination about Sindri's heritage and very few unused curse words, had been holding a large box that was revealed to be full of coins and scrolls that bore wax seals marking them as important and secret, a few had been broken, and recently if tonight's events were anything to go by.

He was either a spy, or a really good burglar.

Sindri sent another string of images and impressions to Took.

"You read his mind, and saw that he would attempt to steal things tonight?" he eventually deduced.

Sindri nodded.

"Thanks … I'll have to get Ash onto this." Took said

Sindri bowed her head slightly and left the ranger alone

The thief broke the silence for him "You know, that thing gets weirder by the minute."

"Despite your shocking lack of morals, I would have to with you agree on that." One of the rangers holding his hands said.

Another string of images erupted in his mind.

The rangers looked to Took for a translation, apparently also having received the same message

"It would appear that the Zerg are sending something even more mildly disturbing that has a mouth soon." Took replied, pausing a moment before adding "And she heard us."

The thief just looked at him dumbstruck.

* * *

Sir Reginald Arnsworthy, who has a bunch of other titles that would leave the author of his bibliography blue in the face, scrambled for his weapon. His retinue had been ambushed by giant crested serpents that had filled his 'arrow sponges' with spiked chunks of a brown material that went straight through their armour.

He nearly died in the first volley, but had thrown himself to the ground just in time.

He closed his hands around the rifle and turned, squeezing off three deafening shots into the face of the serpent that had been about the kill him with one of its scythes.

The creature nearly collapsed on top of him, but Reginald rolled out of the way and onto his feet. He ducked and returned fire at the various serpents that had him surrounded. He was doing a surprisingly good job, so long as he compensated for the recoil; his shoulder would have some marvellous bruises on it later from the constant pounding.

There was only a few serpents left when he heard a horrible sound: the rifle clicked empty instead of its usual deafening report. Not long after, something crashed into him, tackling him to the ground.

Another creature walked into the clearing, though his eyes were too unfocused and blurry from the tackle and subsequent landing to make out any sort of detail other than a slightly different figure.

The figure pointed and though no words were spoken, the message was clear. "Run, or join your companions."

Reginald didn't need to be told twice. He dropped everything, including the heirloom rifle his family had preserved since the time of the ancients, and bolted for the tree line, too scared for thought

* * *

"…and you're sure this is safe?" I asked

"Need not worry. Queens mind shall be safely preserved, left unaltered." Avrom stated.

"I'm not really convinced. This IS you we're talking about." I said.

"No need for lies. Purpose is to improve swarm, not to mislead its leader." Avrom replied.

"I'm just concerned. You don't exactly have the best views on humans" I countered.

"Can only work with genetics, powerful Psionics required to rewrite mindscape. Am not capable of changing fundamental thought process of queen." Avrom explained.

"…fine…do it…" I said.

"Will not be comfortable. Transformation will cause much pain. Though; only partial transformation. Full Zerg transformation not currently available. Available later." Avrom warned.

"It's locked and I need to remaster the swarm if I want to unlock it." I recited.

"Precisely." Avrom said, grabbing my hand in his surprisingly strong, spindly fingers, and bringing one of his strange 'claws' to my wrist. Piercing the skin, I could see the small sac at the base of it fill with red. The claws were coated in a mild numbing agent, which I suppose was added as an afterthought to ease my transition (if I hadn't gone and 'died'.) I guessed that it was the transformation that would hurt.

Eventually, the blood turned a darker shade of red.

"Have adapted Zerg mutagen to your genetic structure. Can now proceed." Avrom said as he brought one of his other claws, this one being filled with a green tinted fluid.

This one he shot into my shoulder.

"Must rest. Mutagen will work in time. Sleep, avoid pain." Avrom said.

"S-Sure." I said as my arm had nearly immediately started aching. I left to find somewhere where I would not be disturbed whilst the toll on my body was taken.

* * *

**-Later-**

* * *

My chest hurt, my arm was numb and lifeless, yet burned like it was on fire, I felt like I would be sick, and I had a pounding headache, but eventually I reached the private chambers set aside for me.

Upon entering, I was able to stumble two steps before passing out on the floor.

When I awoke, I was assaulted by a huge influx of information, as the swarm embraced me like a child that had woken up unable to find their mother as the events of the past day were pressed into my mind by the overlords.

It was…touching to say the least.

On a whim I tested my control of the swarm. I could feel all of the swarm yet focus myself on any single member I wanted and micromanage anything about them. I accidentally stopped a Zergling's heart, which had the effect of scaring the bejesus out of the nearby villagers as it just stiffened then keeled over.

I felt stronger and…more responsive, like I could pluck an arrow out of the air. I picked myself off of the floor; the creep had absorbed my fall, if the dent in the goop was anything to go by.

Looking around, I couldn't find anything reflective enough to show me what I looked like now, and a search of the chambers revealed no reflective surfaces, so I set out in search of a mirror.

* * *

My hair had apparently fallen out; instead, there were segmented dreadlocks. They were only short though, the longest being about shoulder length. My eyes emitted a stronger, more noticeable glow now. I would have a hard time sneaking in dark places, or indoors, and sunlight would only make it hard to notice instead of invisible.

I had to discard large portions of my normal armour, since the plating that I had felt under my skin had surfaced in several places, leading to large patches of what had been skin now being scaled carapace, according to Avrom, the scales would flex to absorb blows, making the whole ensemble even harder to cut. The claws I had on the ends of my fingers were more noticeable, before they looked like elongated and sharpened fingernails, but now the resemblance to claws was much stronger now and… about an inch long on average. My arms and mouth felt funny as well, the area under my tongue feeling swollen and strange, and there were some noticeable Chitinous growths on my forearms, though what the purpose of both were had yet to be revealed.

I had also noticed a small symbol, made of chitin embedded in my shoulder, which I 'felt' more than knew was a symbol of the swarm. It resembled a spiral made of vertebrae and sharp blades.

I thanked the rather scared family who I had borrowed the mirror from. No doubt that their 'benefactor', as I was apparently called in some circles, appearing at their doorstep with such an altered appearance was no small shock.

As I stepped out the door to leave though, a small voice spoke up and said five words that caused my heart to skip a beat. "Can I join the swarm?"

* * *

**I suppose I can call it there. I would love to thank reviewers such as Kaery91, as well as my editor General TDT, who have all bounced ideas back and forth with me. Your input helps keep this story awesome, so…keep writing those reviews, or else, stagnation and lameness.**

**I will admit, this is not my best chapter, but as I said, there was a bit of a still point at the end of last chapter, so this one should help shunt the story back into gear… if my muse ever gets off her lazy $$. (She's worse than I am)**

**I have also become aware that some names are hard to pronounce, so for your benefit, I am willing to use an author's note to provide pronunciation help for you.**

**-Edited by General TDT**

**Editor's notes: Yeah you're welcome Yoshtar, and to the readers who can guess what Evadne's changes are? Cuz I can sure tell you I would not want to fight her, and also Yoshtar heres a pair of Rabid Devouring One type Zerglings to motivate you. :P**

**P.S. my full name in the case that anyone wants to private message me is: General TheDyingTitan **


	8. Chapter 8

**My reason for missing my last update (i.e. as soon as I can churn out the chapter) was 1: I now have a beta again, one General TheDyingTitan and 2: I have also been working on a new fic I am codenaming project X, to relieve some of the monotony of writing endless Starcraft Fanfiction, which has taken some time as well**

* * *

"w-what?" I asked, stunned by the question.

The girl's parents tried to quiet her, but I held up a hand silencing them.

Concentrating, I briefly glimpsed a flash of her mind, which was enough to see that she was serious about this.

"A-after the lord of the castle was i-in…"

"Infested?" I suggested. I could feel my face going pale as the blood drained away, not that the kid noticed.

"That was it. He got infested and was saying all these things. He made the zerg sound so wonderful, I… I just… h-he said to ask you… to see if you could… perform the deed…please?" the girl asked.

I was speechless... how did the Lord get infested? Was that why he wasn't speaking out?

After several minutes of gaping I eventually mustered enough brainpower to say "I-I'll see wh-what I can do. I…just need to go… get some business sorted…"

"He said I didn't have long though."

"Wha- why?"

"He said something about the creep. He used to eat a lot of food, but the taxman hasn't been around for ages. it's been nicer since he stopped eating so much."

"I need to speak to someone" i said

* * *

**-Later-**

* * *

"My queen, I thought you knew. Ever since you 'helped' those farmers, the creep has been nourishing the food." Diarra said

"And this 'nourished' food causes infestation?" I asked

"Creep laced with many zerg mutagens, also carries zerg hyper evolutionary virus. Both together ensure only zerg consume creep, and sustain production of useful mutations. Both cause infestation" Avrom said "creep in food, humans eat food, humans eat creep. Creep spreads through body, causes mutation and adds to zerg swarm"

"Oh god… is there something we can do to stop this" I asked

"Why would you wish to prevent the entire village's rebirth into the swarm?" Diarra asked

"Be- because…because it would ruin their usefulness as the eyes of the swarm" I retorted. It was weak, but I had to remind myself to think 'zerg'.

"You have been neglecting your overlord's o' queen, to not know about changelings" Diarra replied

"Wait…what?" I asked, caught off guard. Changelings?

"Overlord can mutate, become overseer, lose internal hollow, able to process more data, can spawn changelings, infiltrator unit." Avrom supplied

"I somehow doubt zerg can infiltrate much more than a camp of blind men" I said

"Changeling, shape shifter, able to morph to resemble other species, or other broods of zerg. Can relay information" Avrom explained

"So the zerg have hidden eyes… what about a mouth?" I said

"I am afraid I do not follow this metaphor" Diarra replied

"Preachers and negotiators, people who can construct a convincing argument can get strongholds to surrender, and people willingly join forces with the swarm" I explained "we could topple an entire government and not even lose a single zergling"

"And you believe that you require humans for this?"

"Yes. Even if we ultimately go with a zerg unit capable of human level speech, people would be put off-guard and at ease if they can talk with humans." I said "lording over them would run into fewer problems with rebellions if they see us 'playing nice'." i added finger quotes as i said the last pert.

Diarra paused for a moment obviously thinking on what I had said "I suppose you have a point. Your will shall be done my queen"

"Avrom, how soon do you think you can have something to disarm the virus?" I asked

"Task is new one. No pre-existing research available. Will take a day." Avrom said

"And Diarra, I need humans and drones to distribute the cure to the entire village when it's finished being developed. I want as few full transformations as possible." I said

"The transformation does not take long my queen once catalysed. It shall be difficult to prevent full infestation."

"Is there some way we can slow it down?" I asked

"Once their link to the hive mind is established. The virus may be psionically slowed, however, this has proven to have…painful results." Diarra said "previous leaders have used this to spite adversaries before"

"I suppose it will do." i said, resigning myself to inevitable 'torch-and-pitchfork parade'

* * *

The next day was a tense one. The Zerg had occupied the marketplace in the town in an attempt to prevent people from eating for a day. Despite Evadne's desperate warnings, several people reached 'critical mass' of the creep and were exposed to the excruciating pain that the virus' suppressed transformations brought about.

I sat there as the Zerg swarmed around me in the market, staking out the hive mind and acting to slow down the viruses through the connections the sprung up as i awaited Avrom's cure. it all went absolutely south when, as the cure reached completion, I felt several new connections, but the screams from across town were higher pitched than normal. Worried, I scanned the new connections and found that they were only children. it turns out that they had been let out at noon for lunch and upon eating their lunches, made from 'nourished' food, several kids had reached critical mass, their smaller bodies and weaker immune systems more easily overcome by lower levels of the H.E.V.

knowing that the queens and overlords were working to detect links anyway, I stayed with them through the hive mind and endured their trial with them and was able to slow the viruses progress even further. I was nearly catatonic when the cure was finally released, and barely registered the reports.

there was only the pain, the excruciating pain, the agony, amplified several times by such intimate contact to slow the virus. I had felt pain like it once before. I could also feel my 'zerg instincts' pulling against me, attempting to pull me back, but my mainly human mind was already delving into the flashback.

* * *

I looked around and saw that I was in an eerily familiar looking alleyway. I pull myself off of the ground and marvel at how big everything is around me. I hear an angry commotion and attempt to call the zerg close to me reflexively. I shudder when I fail to see them coming, but I still I keep moving towards the noise. it strikes me as strange that it's a reflex already, but i don't decide to question it. I'm their Queen now, i might as well get used to it.

I can see a massive riot, the town guards are all on the walls, bows drawn, and facing outwards, but I can't see much beyond the crowd.

There's a massive explosion, the deafening boom resounding throughout the village, just like that one time. The bows are released, but fall silent as the guards all collapse from the walls as a serious of loud pops and bangs sound from beyond the walls.

I see the crowd disperse and I see members fall from an unseen menace, with a loud chattering sounding all over the hills, and as it continues more and more rioters fall down dead, with messy holes gaping all over.

I-i remember this… this was when my home village was destroyed by the kingdom for seceding from their rule.

I see the gigantic metal monster, on massive treads rolling towards me. I see that stranger scoop me up in his arms and the strange capital weapon rotate the part that lights up and causes the explosions.

The explosive shell lands in the house next to us, but the massive explosion blasts the wall next to us outwards. The stranger dies, taking the brunt of the explosion for me, but I'm still blasted with shrapnel.

Zerg hive memories identify many things for me, such as the siege tank, the guns, and so many terms that arise from it, however I'm only an observer stuck in my memories, knowing what to do now won't help me.

The pain from having bits of wood and steel buried in my arms is second only to the pain of having the house collapse and being caught under a wall for… I'm told it was days. Worst of all, the wood caught fire, and although the seasonal showers extinguished it quickly, I was stuck there in the heat of the fire for hours. I am told that I had amazed the healers during my training among the Rangers.

I had borne very noticable, but not disfiguring scars until the Zerg had found me.

I was trapped there in the memory until the part where rangers found me.

* * *

From there, I was taken to the inner recesses of my mind. I could tell, because I saw her. She looked like what I would become, I knew that. This grinning visage of not-me bore a direct resemblance to my face, and my old human form, save for all the zerg physiology. This 'potential me' wore her scales like a second skin comfortable in this jacket of armour, and the chitinous protrusions which took the form of a pair of 'spaulders' on her shoulders, as well as a chest protector that looked like a separate creature was hugging onto her torso, fit in perfectly with this new second skin. her arms and legs also bore ribbed chitin protectors.

She wore a ranger's hood, in a grim mockery of a ranger, but it was soaked in creep, staining the mottled green fibres an interesting shade of purple-green. Instead of wings, or the 'Blade wings' of the memories that the zerg possessed of their old queen, the Queen of Blades, displayed, this potential me possessed a pair of large secondary arms that sprung from her back that were draped across her shoulders and crossed over, despite each being as wide across as her torso. These armour plated arms had a number of grooves in the 'forearm' from which I could tell a number of projectiles could be fired. The right one bore three narrow grooves, and the left one had a single broad one. The fingers were elongated claws. Clearly I was meant to use those whilst fighting and manipulation would happen through my normal hands, which had only some short claws.

Her hair was made of the 'dread-tendrils' my hair was becoming and looking at her feet, I grimaced. There was a pair of clawed spikes, which forced my feet into a digitigrade stance: A pair of organic 'high-heels' if you must. I could tell that this was both to boost my height somewhat, from 5'8" to nearly six feet, and the heel would flex outwards during combat, making my feet akin to a birds during a fight, providing lots of extra stability, and possibly the ability to grip onto poles and branches like a bird.

"You know, for a bundle of pre-programmed neurons, I seem to have a startling number of opinions." She said once I had arrived "For example, all those humans, and the ones in the armour: they hurt you, and they hurt you bad, for something you didn't do."

"Your point?"

"Simply that you have a surprising tolerance for humanity. You aren't the first person we tried and this isn't the first planet with sapient life we attempted to find a leader at. Most of them went insane and power hungry. You have more reason than any of them to kill all of them, and yet you hold us back, keep us from harming innocents." She said

"Because I make distinctions. Between them and innocent villagers, and between you and me." I said "this was drilled into my head from day one, never to make unnecessary enemies by generalisation. i am taking my revenge upon them, but i shall need armadas, not just armies but legions of zerg. it will take a lot of time to build those sorts of forces."

"Well, I suppose that you will attempt to redeem us. To make us into a new race, a force of good in the world, instead of an insatiable hunger" she observed "you wouldn't be the first"

"You are me after all" I replied "you would know"

"That I do… and I know that you know why you're here"

"I have to face you. A new body doesn't help me control the swarm, I need you." I said

"You catch on quickly" she said spreading her stance into a classic 'ready' stance taught by the rangers.

Reaching out, I felt a weight in my hands. Here, in my own mind, I was master of this realm.

I felt the smooth handle of the rapier in my hands, and I quickly sheathed it in favour of my old bow.

The smoothed wood was worn, but I felt it flex as I pulled at the string experimentally, and I could tell that it was my old bow, and that it was as ready as ever for a fight.

"Does the human or the zerg win in a straight fight?" I asked

"Neither, because neither fight fair, ever." She said

I felt my clothes, gleaming war plate of the rangers, become heavier as the weight of the numerous back-up daggers and short swords materialized amongst my clothing. A true ranger wore enough leather to deflect a sword or a fang even if they only wore their weapons on a hunt.

We stared at each other tense, her waiting for me to make the first move as I knocked an arrow and lined it up with her heart. It would miss of course; I knew enough of the zerg to tell that.

The fight waged for what would appear to be hours, neither relenting nor able to gain the upper hand. I had never been pushed so close to my human limits before, though this was an exercise of the mind more than anything, so I was moving as easily as she climbed over the walls as I ran up and leapt off them.

Those grooves had been spine launchers akin to the launchers in a hydralisks crest. All three together produced a rapid rate of fire, firing one after the other, this had proved hard to dodge, but in my mind I could move as fast or as slow as I wanted. Then the big one had launched a large shuriken which I had been surprised to learn was able to bounce several times. I had gotten a gash on her shoulder, and my bow had been broken as I had attempted to defend myself with it from an overhead strike.

Both of us were exhausted, and staring at each other from across the mindscape. Hours of fighting were exhausting no matter where you were. I had flung every knife I could at her, and she had spent a lot of energy restocking her arm canons.

I picked myself off of the floor and somehow managing to put on foot in front of the other, I charged her.

I ignored the spine that appeared in my shoulder, nor the one in my stomach, I just kept going, fighting through the pain. I leapt up, and the other me was helpless, having to lug around all that heavy chitin.

I fell on top of her and slammed my fist down into her face, then my other one, then gathering my last reserve of strength I delivered a massive head-butt.

I saw the other me collapse, broken and defeated. It was a pyrrhic victory at best, but I had won.

The other me seemed to dissolve from under me, but I was surrounded in dust that formed her, I reached out to the dust, and felt it flow over my skin, changing the me of my mindscape. I felt cool energy rush into me, and felt a new…almost pleasurable sensation.

The swarm had remastered me, made me strong, and I would remaster it in turn, and bring it to new heights. I felt this new mastery rescind to the background, though it would only take a mere thought to bring myself to a state of 'oneness' with the swarm. it wouldn't take any more concentration to issue commands anymore, it would happen more accurately and faster than ever.

* * *

I awoke from the flashback to find sharp claws prodding at my shoulder.

It was a child who had found me, though something was off, I couldn't see her too well as the sun was at her back.

"Wake up, Eve, wake up. It's in the past" the girl said shaking me rather roughly.

"Huh?" I asked

The girl turned and shouted to an unseen audience "she's awake!"

I found that I was on a bed, and upon sitting up, I saw that my audience was entirely composed of zerg.

"You were calling out for help through the hive mind, and th- your memories… we all saw them… or rather all the zerg saw them."

"Then how did you- oh" I asked, but upon seeing the girl in full without the sun shining in my eyes I realised why.

The girl's arms were zerg. Chitnous scales coated all up and down, with chitinous ridges running up and down the full length. Upon her back was a pair of wings, which were akin to a bat's. They weren't big, and likely not enough to fly.

Scanning the girls face Evadne saw that her eyes had become a strange blue-green colour and had vertical slit irises, akin to a reptiles eyes.

"I have to cut holes in my shirt now, but I'm a lot lighter, and the Birth Queen says I may get to fly when I'm older. You really did keep your promise" the girl said excitedly, picking up psionically on my examination of her new form.

The realisation struck me. "You're that girl who asked me about this aren't you."

"Yeah, thanks this is awesome!" the girl replied enthusiastically

"Is everyone like this?" I asked

"No, only the people who got sick." She replies her face becoming downcast as the memories of the excruciating pain came to the surface "though when I got sick, I could… feel you close by. It really hurt a lot, but that's over now thanks to you! I thought I would try and wake you up to say thanks… so thanks!"

* * *

"Look I know what I saw. These things are dangerous and deadly. They mark their territory by turning the floor purple, don't ask me how. There's witchcraft in the forests to the south, and I'm sure that there's a leader among them somewhere. I haven't seen her myself, but she talked to me. It haunts me. I need you to find her. I need her alive. No one will believe me without it." Reginald said

"Woteva mate, just hand us the jingle and we'll grab the sorry bitch for ya" the gutter-mouthed thieves guild associate, who Reginald suspected was likely a half-orc if the rumours were true, across from the nobleman replied

"Fine" Reginald said as he handed the man a small pouch weighed down by the soft jingle of gold coins.

"Noice doing bizniss wit ya. AY TETSUO! YOU'ZE GOT A JOB!" the guild associate shouted.

A man wearing a forest green hood walked to the table from the upstairs area. The man wore enough weapons to stock a small armoury openly. One need only look to see multitudes of knives, swords, needles, daggers and more.

"The bitch is in the southern forests, nab 'er alive, and you get paid. Chances are she's got magic and definitely some right nasty pets on her. Feel free to use that new cocktail you've been working on"

The man nodded almost imperceptibly before striding out the door.

"He'll get your girl right quick, check back real soon okay mate?" the Guild associate said to Reginald.

"Of course" Reginald replied before leaving the stale backstreet tavern himself.

* * *

**-A few days later-**

* * *

Sindri looked out amongst the gathered mob. So many humans, come to kill the humans her queen had told her to observe, all over a few silly ideals.

An order from the leader of the swarm was not to be disobeyed, and Sindri concluded that she could not continue to observe the humans effectively if they were all dead, so she called upon the hive to respond to this new threat.

* * *

"Bring the demon forth unbelievers, so that we may purge it and sanctify this ground"

"Gaelen? I had always known that you were of the faith. I never expected you to betray us like this." Ash shouted.

The man who had changed his forest green for the white of the Templars stared daggers at Ash. "Consorting with demons is folly, you know this. To even think it is heresy!" Gaelen retorted

"That may be, but the wool does not make a sheep" Ash replied

"That thing has been here for months, not once has it spoken a word, you are still trying to figure out its purpose here are you not?" Gaelen replied "all the while, it bewitches the children and uses foul sorceries to defy any attempt at righteous correction of the error that is its very existence!"

"So you would slaughter many to get at a single offender, you realise that the witch hunts have always been a blunt instrument?"

"That may be, but it has clearly bewitched a great many of you, to have you allow it to stay so long… I regret to say it, but you must-" Gaelen said, but was interrupted as the earth underneath him began to tremble with great ferocity.

"What's going on?" a villager amongst the mob shouted.

The shaking subsided somewhat, before the ground erupted, flinging rubble that ranged in size from being as small as pebbles, to as large as a small boulders.

* * *

Gaelen had not seen much of what had happened. One moment, the ground had been shaking so violently that he could barely keep his feet, the next he felt like he was falling.

Opening his eyes, Gaelen saw the open maw of a…the only description of any accuracy would be "a titanic monstrous worm."

He could do nothing as he fell into the worm's open, waiting maw.

* * *

Waking up, Gaelen was in a void of darkness, which pressed a soft surface to his face.

Working with what magic he knew, Gaelen produced a small light, focused in the palm of his hand.

What he saw went beyond belief. Demons... and dozens- no, hundreds of them. A small hellhound walked towards him, sniffed at him briefly, and then blew his light out.

No one is sure what happened to Gaelen that night, some believe that he was among the unidentifiable dead that a roach's acid was prone to causing, others say he was abducted and experimented on. All agree that no one since has ever seen him since then.

* * *

Directing the swarm, Sindri ordered packs of zerglings to get among the mob of humans. From there they bit at people and maybe hamstrung a few with their attack claws.

Their sudden appearance and fearsome visage broke the mob mentality of the witch hunt, whilst the shows of aggression caused many to immediately bolt in fear.

Since they were simple peasants and not professional soldiers, Sindri could feel the Queen's presence as she carefully observed the events that took place, and although it frustrated Sindri to no end, her Queen did not wish for needless death of her former species. At least Sindri was allowed to kill in retaliation if they attempted to attack any of the zerg shepherding them through the outpost that the witch hunt had so eagerly put to the torch mere minutes ago.

The fight was not without casualties on both sides, and several zerglings died as cornered farmers desperately wielded their pitchforks, or as burning buildings fell over and buried them under the rubble.

Sanctuary was burning, but her people could still be saved. Many of them were in scattered underground strongholds, whilst others had fled the coming carnage.

* * *

Amongst the gathered Zerg, a new breed, not entirely unique, but atypical of the swarm nonetheless, emerged from the Nydus Worm.

This 'Blade Queen' resembled a fully corrupted female human, although their carapace was bulkier than that of the Queen, and more closely resembled plate mail. Instead of the bony wing-like structures of the Queen of Blades, these Blade Queens possessed a pair of elongated attack claws, much like a birth queens dorsal appendages, or a zerglings, albeit these were much sharper than any zerglings claws.

These Blade Queens were not here to assist in driving the mob away; the regular 'base' zerg had that problem under control. They were there to utilise the confusion to smuggle the hundreds of surviving inhabitants of Sanctuary out of Sanctuary.

Utilising knowledge shared with them by their Queen via the hive mind, they quickly located the first of the strongholds.

This one was merely protected by a hidden trapdoor that lead to a dark space underneath the house it was sheltered in. it was simple enough to locate, but easy to miss.

Dropping down the ladder, a fall which would have broken the legs of a human, the three commando units quickly found a scared mass of humans cowering from the sudden intruders.

"Come with us if you wish to see the sun rise in the morn. We are here to get you out" the leader of the three shouted to the humans.

When none stepped forth the least patient of the three shouted "come on, the night grows old and we need to evacuate many more than you. MOVE IT!"

She added psychic emphasis to the last part, which caused some of the weaker wills to move, and like a flock of sheep, once one of them got going, the rest did as well.

Utilising their burrow ability to avoid the following bottleneck, the three queens resurfaced outside the house and waited for the civilians. The fates must have smiled upon them, as the escort to the nydus worm was simple enough. Convincing the Humans to step into the maw of the giant worm, however, was a bit more difficult, until a new worm bearing fresh Zerg was requisitioned as a demonstration.

This seemed to convince a large number of them, who then fled into the worm.

Once the Civilians were on board, The Nydus worm burrowed once again, retracting to transport it's cargo to the Zerg Hive cluster.

Now then, one down, a dozen more strongholds to go. This should be easy right? Just a simple escort mission.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter took so long. I basically had to rewrite it, as the first edition… sucked, it was a horrible chapter, and my editor being my editor, GenTDT basically ate the chapter like Gabe Newell ate Half Life 3.**

**So I decided to perform a rewrite to attempt to spur the good General into action once more, and I believe that I have considerably improved upon my old chapter.**

**Update: oh boy… wow, talk about dropped balls. GenTDT apparently went and graduated on me, then got himself full-time employment. So not only have I needed to re-write the chapter, it's taken weeks longer than necessary as this news was relayed to me. I apologize to you the readers, on behalf of us both. No one is to blame here but just bad luck and awful timing. As such, I hope to get some feedback to help speed the next chapter along nicely.**

**Now, here's hoping that YOU, the readers like this chapter. I know that I'm much happier about it. especially now that it's up.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello! I'm sorry for the wait on this chapter, after the dropped ball... but it's the holidays and I've been busy with the family.**

**But I'm back now, and with more and better formed ideas, for your reading pleasure.**

**Since my editor has been rendered incapable of editing my stories, there will likely be a drop in grammar quality. It's not really my strong suit, and I'm not keen on finding a new one, at least, not until I've got a few chapters out.**

**Without further ado, let the chapter commence**

* * *

Diarra looked up the hill that peeked out over the forest, giving a view of the treetops and the land beyond. Via the hive mind, she knew that her queen was up there. She had taken to making the trek up the mountain if nothing required her attention, sitting there when she could to take safe refuge, and to gain some space to herself.

Not that she blamed her queen, it had nearly been a year since her rebirth, since she had ascended to her current title. Previous rulers had taken longer to assume the titles they had offered, but she suspected that this was merely because they were human, and needed this time. They had always looked to humans who needed the powers given to them, yet smart enough to wield them properly. They would not be delegated to pets and couriers, nor would she allow her ruler to run the swarm into the ground.

Diarra drew her senses downwards, to the foot of the hill. There a small group of unhappy birth queens were making the trek to the summit to confront her Queen. Diarra did not sway them from their task. The Queen of Blades had made any and all intelligent zerg capable of free, independent thought.

The intended result would keep future rulers of the swarm sharp and alert.

Diarra watched as the band of Five birth queens approached the summit.

* * *

I looked up from my meditation to see Five Birth Queens approaching me. I had known for some time about the unrest, but from the feelings the hive mind exuded, I could tell that this was a full-blown coup.

"Evadne-" one of the queens started to say, but I held a finger up to silence her.

"_I know why you have come"_ I said through the hive mind. This unsettled the queens somewhat, but they held firm.

"then you know what it is we have come to do" she said, before fanning out her crest and drawing her attack claws out to and offensive posture... well offensive fr a queen, they couldn't move fast enough to truly bring an offensive to bear in a duel themselves.

I simply thrust my arm forward, unleashing the psionic energies that I had built up in the limb as a small bunch of psionic lances. The psionic bullets punched clean through the head of each queen spraying the rocks and loosely packed dirt with gore.

That was the power of raw psionics, they did exactly as you wanted them to.

There was a stillness in the hive-mind, for ever so brief a moment, followed briefly by a feeling of celebration. Their queen was coming into her own now, and the swarm could feel it.

I resettled myself on the large flat rock I had been sitting on, and focused myself once again, building and releasing psionic energies.

* * *

When Evadne and her Psuedo-Demons had invaded, I had cowered in my house and prayed that they would not find me.

I had looked out from the Window as she smashed two of my roof tiles into the good knight.

I could tell that something was lurking under the surface, inside her, yet I remained, for she seemed to truly regret what had happened.

I will not hide that the new ease and quality of life that the zerg brought was greatly enjoyed by everyone.

The food was nice too, but it was the food that was where the trap lay. The Zerg, as Evadne had repeatedly insisted we refer to them as, had put something in the food they told me, as one of their many aberrations against nature had, at the behest of their Queen, transferred an immunity to whatever it was that was in the food.

But they didn't get to my wife, or my son in time, they told me. They each underwent incredible suffering before those monstrosities were able to proof them against such transformations.

My son lost his legs, and now moves on legs they gave him. My wife... she lost her face, half of it had melted off and the purple, veined structure that replaced it, complete with a glowing eye... I was shocked to the core by this.

I would not stand for it. I would NOT.

So I stole away in the night, and against my bitter conscience, stole a horse and headed for our nearest neighbour. I would bring the full might of the faith upon them for stealing my family like this.

This I swore, and I shall do so again should they demand it.

* * *

**And now for something completely different**

* * *

Tand looked up from the earth he was tilling. The Zerg had been mighty nice when they had tried to fix a mistake they had made with the fertiliser. Apparently it was rather dangerous, but not deadly.

He'd asked about making the fertiliser non-toxic, and that pretty new type of Queen had told him that they were working on it.

He'd been expecting the weekly drone to deliver his goods for him, but instead there were three men in fancy black dress clothes.

He knew who these men were. He'd borrowed some money to get himself started, and he had been intending to pay them back, but he hadn't managed to scrounge up enough cash that he could put food on the table, but he was damn close.

When they were told this, they took this how you would expect. The three gangsters, who were from the next town over, moved to take the money from him.

As they set foot on the farm however, no one could have guessed what had happened next.

Tand called out to anyone who could hear for help. Unfortunately, the nearest person was back in town, which was a 30 minute ride from his humble farmstead. However, for some odd reason, the four old trees that had started producing fruit again as they had been exposed to the creep suddenly decided to drop their fruit. All of it, all at once.

The loud thunk as the fruit hit the creep/dirt caused the gangsters to pause for a second, and turned towards the source of the noise.

The biggest one of them decided to check to make sure no one was there, but he didn't get fat before, of all things, the fruit sprouted legs.

Opening hidden eyes and unfurling withdrawn appendages, the fruit-zerg gave a piercing cry before doing as all zerg do, and rushed the gangsters. Unprepared for such a foe the gangsters were quickly overcome by the pint-sized vitamin-c-enriched invaders.

The end result was three corpses, dressed in ragged formal clothes covered in a myriad of bites, though a venom of some kind was at play here as the bodies possessed no wounds deep enough to kill.

The Zerg fruit then dragged the corpses over to the trees, where roots pulled the bodies underground. The fruit then climbed the branches once more and fitted themselves back onto the branches.

As the last of the fruit reattached itself, Tand found a single fruit-zerg climbing his arm. The little creature, which reminded him of an Apple with a bunch of zerg features added in climbed onto his shoulder, rubbed it's cheek against his, lick him for good measure and then ran off to join its fellows on the tree.

It was all Tand could do to remain where he was and not run screaming.

And he thought she'd been joking about those.

* * *

Ash had spent several hours inside... wherever this was. Across from him in the semi-cramped conditions were several creatures that were so eerily... human.

He had been watching in awe as the zerg had run through the crowds, and amongst the wrecked buildings of Sanctuary. He had seen them move with a coordination he had never seen, amongst the flames, and through the rubble.

Sure they were many, their forms, and their weapons horrendous, overkill.

He could see in so many ways, how they were holding back. If they did go out, this witch hunt wouldn't last long at all. He could likely send the remains back in a soup pot.

Then something had grabbed him, and as he cursed himself for letting himself become mesmerised in such a stupid manner, his captors revealed themselves to be the most humanoid zerg he had ever seen, these ones actually wearing a form of clothing (albeit, battle plate formed of chitinous plating, in mimicry of a rangers plate, the cloaks appeared to be creep-dyed... silk?). Their mouths were covered with chitinous masks that left their eyes unobscured. A clever concealment tactic.

He had had it pressed into his mind their purpose as they dragged him into some kind of giant worm.

And so here he was. They hadn't spoken a word, instead they had indicated that they were taking him to the one creature among them that he would want to talk to.

No prizes for guessing who.

A blinding amount of light erupted from one end, given the dim lights that the creature he was travelling in. it was only ordinary daylight.

Stepping out, he saw a massive clearing, carpeted in creep, and blanketed with large green orbs.

But they didn't hold his attention, for it was the creature before him, that captivated his attention.

Her cloak was merely dyed by the creep, but he could see the rough-spun woollen nature of the cloak, it didn't shimmer like the silk.

She was... changed, to say the least. He hadn't seen her since that ill-fated mission to the nearby southern plains.

Scales... her eyes glowed noticeably, and had turned a deep yellow... her hair was replaced by the tendrils that he had seen on those 'blade queens'.

He walked towards this creature, but stopped several paces from 'Evadne'.

"is it really you?" he asked

'Evadne' simply nodded.

"you certainly made a place for yourself..." he said awkwardly.

"do you like it? It's a bit cluttered right now, but that'll clear up real soon." she said.

"you've changed." was all he said

"it's a mixed basket really. I can't stop progressing, the queens would stage a massive coup if I showed any weakness." Evadne said

"colour me impressed." he said

"I'm about to make leaps and bounds, to the swarm, the warm-up is only just ending." she said

"I fear for humanity, then" he said

"do not fear, those who brook no violence against the swarm shall have nothing to fear from me. I wish to turn this species into a force of good, for man and beast to live together like we did before humanity reached for the stars" Evadne said.

"and the real reason?" Ash asked, unfazed.

Evadne looked him in the eye for a few moments, seeing the face of her old mentor, and the man who had been a father to her, no matter how bad boot camp had been. She slumped her shoulders and nearly collapsed, sitting on one of the cocoons.

"when they shot me off of the roof of that tower... I came so close to dying. It scared me. I just want to live, but so many would love to kill me, especially so now that I've taken steps with the zerg. There was a point of no return, and it has been crossed. Now, I intend to see this one through until the end. Though it is true that I'm not about to kill hundreds of innocents to make a point."

"you want to live? I've seen men die for lesser ideals than that, though there are greater causes"

"I want to help people too... and the zerg can do that."

"a lot of people won't see it that way"

"I kno-" Evadne started, before jerking her head to the side.

"what ?" Ash said

"the overlords just found something"

"what?"

"there is a large column of soldiers heading for zerg lands... they have a mechanised support"

"the fist of the capital ship" Ash said in disbelief

"they must have realised that we're here. The Admirals Adamantite left fist. I could spend the days before they get here building up masses of zerg... but I can feel that these are ready" Evadne said, standing up and putting her ear to the cocoon she had been sitting on.

if the stuttering, flabbergasted response was anything to go by, Ash had been left in the dust.

* * *

Instead of a traditional explanation, there was the sounds of maybe a hundred cocoons simultaneously splitting, then the screeches and cries of dozens of new zerg, as the day turned to night under the thousands of beating wings.

Evadne was tempted to laugh in giddy delight as she sent her new minions their first orders. If her hive memories were right, this force here would devastate the column well before it could ever threaten her.

* * *

Far away, in the bowels of a reconstructed colony ship, Techmaturge Idel felt a cold shiver up her right cogitator panel. Making a note to have her coolant levels checked, she returned to welding on the right centre tread and muttering the holy rights of siege construction.

After all, machines didn't get bad feelings did they?

* * *

**A pinch of this, a dash of that, a little work here and there, and a desire to get something out quicker than the last chapter, have resulted in this. I've kept it a bit short, but I feel like I should put something out quickly this time.**

**Thanks to all my reviewers, all you readers, and everyone following this story. Keep on reviewing, reading and following, not in that order of course, you make this writer feel happy that you enjoy my work.**


	10. Chapter 10

"so tell me sarge, are the tales true?"

"what tales?" the Sarge Replied gruffly

"you know, the tales about them demons in the south? We've heard endless rumours, but I ain't heard anything solid in weeks"

"I'll say again, what stories?" the sarge replied more forcefully.

"that's a reluctant yes if I ever heard one" the private said to no one

"all I heard is that this expeditionary force is to crush a bunch of serfs who think that they can run themselves better." The sarge replied "t'ain't nothing 'bout no demons, y'hear?"

"yes sarge"

"let's get moving a little quicker, we need to reach the next checkpoint by nightfall, and I don't like the look of them clouds." Sarge replied.

"sarge… I don't think it's a cloud, it's moving too fast… it looks like a flock of birds."

"don't be ridiculous, they ain't migrating this time of year. 'sides it's too big for that" Sarge said, turning to the private.

The mage, who had been mostly silent up until this point, chose this moment too speak up. "get down" he said flatly.

Both of them looked at the mage funny, but then saw his cloak billowing… in no wind.

"Get. Down."

Both of them knew that something REALLY big was about to go down, and didn't waste any time throwing themselves to the ground, just as a fireball the size of a small house flew overhead.

Looking behind them, they saw lightning arcing in massive streaks, rending the air with massive crashes and booms at the large… flock of birds.

The noise was great and terrible, and lasted for long ages as the mage unleashed his everything. Then the fireball exploded.

The explosion engulfed a large portion of the cloud in a flash of light and heat. Some of the 'birds' fell from the skies, other were simply gone.

the return volley was unexpected, and devastating. The projectiles seemed to be able to sense where people, and the great war-machines they travelled with were and jumped from person to person several times before shattering.

Their first target was sensibly, the mage who had launched such devastating attacks, but each projectile was either deflected or stopped in midair.

One of the war machines exploded in a brilliant plume of flames, and with an almighty roar

The creatures scattered, dispersing themselves as wide as possible, but the mage was already hurling dozens of fireballs and lightning bolts, interspersed with a great ray that reduced the flying beasts (for at such a close distance they were clearly not birds) to ashes.

When the mage finally stopped, the skies were once again clear, save for the ash still tumbling from the sky.

"Sarge?"

"yeah Lester?"

"I reckon I might new a new change of pants"

"I don't blame ya"

Well, this was certainly interesting. A mage, and a powerful one at that. All to kill little old me.

It's almost a compliment, at this stage.

Looks like I'm going to need something with a little more… oomph than just mutalisks.

Though the prospects of flying death from above, attacking with little to no fear of retaliation or counter attack. It was intoxicating.

I was in love with the idea.

In a straight fight, the zerg would be hard pressed to do much of anything without massive numbers. Numbers that would be hard to raise, even with an amazing five minute wait time for a fully combat-ready soldier, as opposed to months, or even years of training to make meat-shields. I would need to learn tricks and tactics that put the enemy off-guard and on my terms so that the zerg could swarm an opponent and suffer as few losses as possible.

The primary hive cluster was overworked and in the end, just wouldn't cut it, especially with all this demand. I would need to expand if I was to survive.

The zerg would rise from the ashes, and join the galactic stage once more.

Azarians, those who hadn't run away at any rate, noticed a sudden decline in the numbers of zerg running through the village. Some panicked, some breathed a sigh of relief, the half-infested, who held the zerg in reverence because of their complicated and mysterious bond with their conquerors, only had a vague idea of what was going on.

This was, until the lords house, a castle that had stood for three generations, but was now abandoned with the full infestation, and subsequent 'liquidation' of the local lord, crumbled suddenly, collapsing in on itself.

Many townsfolk, curious as to this new turn of events, arrived to find a disturbing lack of rubble.

With a loud crack, a mountainous volcano of flesh erupted from beneath and shortly thereafter, larva and even drones were swarming over what little was left of the rubble.

"Now that is a castle befitting a _Zerg_ queen" one said.

"Mountains of flesh… It's always something new" another commented

"I'd heard of these… but to see a hatchery. I'm not sure what to think" yet another said.

I smiled as the central hive cluster was nearly packed to the brim with zerg and eggs. Within a day that number had nearly doubled, albeit from zergling overloads.

An eagle eyed (read: had eyes like a mutalisk's) Azarian spotted several siege tanks on the horizon, the plans and the traps were laid and, though many humans, some likely innocent, would die, examining myself I felt a sense of… peace, acceptance. I would establish her dominance, and she would test the zerg, and her cunning, against truly worthy foes. I felt little for the soldiers that I knew would die.

I wasn't interested in prisoners. New citizens, maybe, but I would give them but a single opportunity to do so.

my thoughts were calm as I climbed to the top of the wall, my zergness plain to see for any who cared to look.

"give in! there is no holding back the might of the kings army. You shall submit or perish!" came a voice over a loudspeaker.

I paused briefly, before replying, psychically driving my words into their heads as I shouted "you have but one opportunity, surrender, or I cannot guarantee that your deaths will be quick or painless, for those of you who do die. Those that throw down their arms and cease hostilities shall be spared"

None did. I could tell that they didn't believe me.

"so be it" I said and gave the signal.

A new creature amongst the zerg surfaced underneath and around the terrans.

Even with the zerg's augmentations and alterations, the sadistic and abject glee of the banelings as they detonated themselves caused me to shudder.

I also cringed at the screams of agony as men were quickly liquidated by the powerful caustic fluids.

The acid and zerg parts bounced off of a magical barrier the mage had erected in time. I could see that this man would not be taken down by zerg if even ambushes like this didn't kill him. I would have to serve as the battering ram against the gate of his defenses.

Leaping down into the fray, I landed with a serene grace that cost at least three terrans their lives as I psionically slowed myself so that there was no more impact than descending a flight of stairs. Zerg rushed out to keep the rest of the mundanes occupied.

The mage paused for a moment in the chaos, before turning towards me. The man had a snarl on his face that bespoke a LOT of anger.

I ducked as a bright purple beam of energy lanced through the air where my head had been, before striking a zergling and reducing it to ashes.

"disintegration? Wheres the fun in that?" I jeered at him.

He didn't reply, and instead simply acted, casting agin. Next up was a fireball, but this one I caught with what mental prowess I could muster, before flinging it back at the mage. It splashed across the barrier in a large explosion.

Again and again the process was repeated Ice was shattered and redirected, lightning conducted into the ground, and I figured out which colour the inside of a killer-rabbit-familiar's head was.

The fight continued like this for some time, attacks were fired by the mage, which I was able to redirect either at the mage, or into the fight which was calming itself to watch the two powerhouses on the field duke it out. Besides, fighting with these powers flying around like rain was a very bad idea.

I was THE leader of the zerg swarm, sure, but my style of fighting had determined my abilities. mine was a form that was geared towards taking and dealing physical punishment, which helped against the more solid nature of the mage, but my own offences and defences were somewhat… lacking once magic and psionics came into the field.

In the midst of the fight, just as I was flinging a shockwave at the mage to disrupt him long enough to fizzle his next spell, Avrom, of all things, contacted me.

"I'm kinda in the middle of something" I thought at him.

"new zerg form developed, new praetorian guard, protect and augment queen"

"augment? Actually no, just send them" I said, ducking another disintegration beam, before gathering my weary mind and concentrating for another shove.

The mage leaped at me with his right arm, which was clad with rocks, shaped and sharpened into deadly claws. I had punctured his shields a while back, but now he was moving incredibly fast. It was my kind of fight, or rather would be if the zerg form wasn't still immature.

Obviously I ducked out of the way, and then heard a collective gasp.

There was three humanoid figures standing there. These three bore a direct resemblance to several branches of zerg, mostly they resembled the queen of blades, without wings. I could feel that these were true zerg and not bonded human hybrids. They sure as hell weren't infested either.

I couldn't tell but I think, given the reactions of the surviving soldiers, that they were stunning beauties as well, however I failed to see it. Each one looked as flawed as normal humans to me.

The lead one had caught the large three clawed hand, stopping the man dead in his tracks psionically. Those sensitive to it could tell that all three were pooling their efforts.

I felt energy pooling into me from them as well.

"a small gift before we assume our duties to you our queen"

Once I was on my feet again, I felt the flow of energy slow, and then stop.

The mage was being held completely still, his fingers and jaw was held clamped in position by the three sisters.

I walked up to him, and considered my options.

I scanned his mind, and tried to glean what I could. It was a clumsy attempt, as psionic abilities took time to master, and I had been dancing to the tune of need for a good while. The fact that I had just spent a lot of energy fighting him didn't help either.

Direct orders from the king… well, that was unsettling.

It would seem that the waves I made by splashing the zerg into the metaphorical pool had reached him, and he was hoping to crush me here and now, before I did something along the lines of what I already have.

Not that it mattered, I expected him to find out anyways, but after I had claimed more land.

Overlords flew in overhead, and opening up the orifices on their underside to allow access to the ventral sacs they carried.

I had my own personal one prepared already. The game would begin, and I intended to outplay the king and his tech-cult.

soon the overlords took to the skies, heading for the capital Azaria served. From there I would conquer the entire region, and amass a true army of zerg befitting of even the old queen.

The skies over the capital city, Calderis, were a clear blue, with nary a cloud in sight.

Callen looked out to this, feeling the pleasant warmth of the spring sun falling on his face, and thought to himself "today, will be a good day"

Walking down to the town square to ogle the many goods that merchants brought in, he was interested to see a peddler wrapped in a concealing robe (always a bad sign, not that he knew that) who was selling, of all things, fertilizer.

"a single jar and your flowers will have never been more luscious, more vibrant than they are when they feed off of my premium fertilizer"

Thinking of his mother, and her much loved flower garden, Callen walked to this stranger in the marketplace

"an interesting concoction you have there" he remarked

"only as interesting as you make it out to be" the peddler replied

"well, I'm interested in purchasing one of these jars, pray tell, how much would you charge for one?" Callen asked

"for you?" the stranger said, eyeing him up and down with odd, yellow eyes. "I believe that for you, I could go as low as a silver piece." He said

"a princely sum" Callen remarked

"you don't look the gardening type, however I can assure you that the green thumb you buy it for will thank you greatly."

"I could go as high as 75 coppers"

"it's less than I would like, but I reckon I like you. You have a deal"

Handing over the small coins, Callen quickly picked out a jar.

"just rake the fertilizer into the soil where the garden grows. It works better that way; you get even lovelier flowers that are open all year round" he said

Callen started on his way home, and looked back to where the peddler had been, but the peddler was nowhere to be found.

Thinking it odd, but ultimately, he had gotten what he wanted, Callen resumes his journey home.

He had gotten almost there when a large shadow passed over him. Looking up he noticed some sort of strange, bloated creature that hung in midair without wings.

He stared in wonder at such a thing, as doubtless countless others were doing, before noticing that dozens-no hundreds of them filled the sky, along with more conventional fliers, albeit those birds bore resemblance to nothing else he had seen before

He picked up his pace, perhaps it was simply a migration of some strange creature or another that he had never heard of.

Then he remembered the old stories, of creatures resembling these raining destruction upon the star-ancestors. They matched what he had heard of them rather well. The fast walk broke into a fast jog, and then running.

Then the one he had first seen opened up from the bottom, and several figures fell from it.

The oddly humanoid creatures landed hard, but suffered no damage from falling what must have been a dozen stories in the air.

Then the monstrosities started raining down, although they must have been more fragile as they didn't land anywhere near as hard as the human ones did.

The run broke into a full blown sprint as the creatures neared. He saw one of the human ones turn towards him and he realized that they were as monstrous as the others falling from the creatures that the stories had all identified with one word: Zerg.

He arrived at long last, creatures like large dogs running for him like a hound after a fox.

He leaped the fence in a spectacular jump, and landed on the verandah; nothing like having dangerous creatures chasing you to help you over that fence.

He ran through the door, then drew the deadbolt across, and shoved a chair in front of it.

His mother looked at him strange and demanded an explanation until there was a loud insectiod growling at the door and a loud BANG as the zerglings on the other side rammed themselves into the door, trying to break it down. Callen and his mother exchanged a brief glance before a voice sounded on the other side of the door.

"get back, it won't stand for much longer"

The chair flew away from the door as a large bladed limb burst through the wood, spraying wood chips over the floor. Self-preservation kicked in, and Callen grabbed his mother and ran for the stairs. A loud, metallic ping as they ascended the stairs told them that they had found the metal deadbolt and severed it.

They attempted to hide, but the simple layout of the house meant that the two were quickly found.

The hydralisk hissed at them, Callen having pulled his mother behind him to try and protect her.

The creature flexed its scythes and reared back to reap both humans in a single blow, only to find that Callen had lashed at it, Callen fist landing in its face. The force of the punch knocked it over sending it crashing onto its back.

The creature was enraged and coiled itself up like a serpent, before springing forward ramming its large crest into the human

Both bodies burst through the wall, and fell to the ground.

Callen dropped the jar he hadn't realized he had been carrying all this way. He saw it land just before him, shattering on the ground, before realizing, in his winded state, that he would land atop the ruins of the glass jar.

Callen hit the dirt and the shattered remains of the jar hard, the hydralisk landing atop him. He felt the jar lancing into his back, and his ribs breaking under the crushing force of a 300 kilo full-grown hydralisk landing on top of him.

In a split second he felt the pain of the ribs puncturing his lungs and heart, as well as his organs collapsing, but then felt nothing as the glass severed his spine.

He was spared most of what would have been agonizing pain as the darkness rapidly crept in. he tried to stay awake for his mother, but no matter how hard he tried, the darkness crept in.

The hydralisk berated itself for thinking the human defenceless, before rejoining the effort to take over the city; Screams echoed all over the city, as members of the hive performed the duty handed to them by their queen.

**I Realize I haven't updated in forever, but I needed a quick break from writing zerg endlessly.**

**Thanks to recent humble bundles and the upcoming release of pokemon X and Y prompting me to revisit classics, plus I rediscovered the awesome that is Evil Genius thanks to GOG... and we're trying to sell the house so we can move. and my dog caught cancer, and I have to mourn my dead cockatiel who injected three marijuanas and died.**

**I've been busy.**

**But now I have a chapter to keep you happy!**

**Read and review, this isn't likely my best chapter, but I hope it leads to better chapters.**


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